Unlimited: The Next Universe
by Unlimitedthefinal
Summary: Unlimited, after leaving the DBZ universe, decides to visit a brand new realm. Now, Sonic and friends are about to meet an opponent of incredible proportions. Based in Sonic X. SonAmy! The next one is Unlimited: The Deepest Reaches.
1. What's Next?

Fanfiction and the character Unlimited is property of Josh Kovatch, 2008

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Before you start reading, you might want to read this.

This fic, according to Unlimited, takes place directly after my previous fic titled Unlimited: Story of a Dreamer. If you are a long time reader of Unlimited, then you should be able to follow this story pretty easily. However, if you are only part of the Sonic world, then I recommend you read the fics Unlimited Power: The Final Opponent and Unlimited: Story of a Dreamer. It will help you to understand the character Unlimited, especially later.

As for the fic, it takes place after the Space Colony ARK battle, and features the Sonic X universe. Enjoy! If you have any questions, PM me and I'll gladly assist you.

Chapter 1: What's Next?

Floating alone in the darkness of space, a being's blue eyes scan around the void of space around him.

_Well_, the being thinks, _Let's see who else is out there to test my skills. It's too bad I had to use that attack to win before. Now..._

_Before..._

_"It all ends HERE!" Unlimited yelled as his energy hit a pinnacle._

_The Z-fighters watched as the light from Unlimited grew brighter as the noble hero glowed white, and then, the seal on his forehead disappeared. They felt his life force beginning to fade as the massive energy began to tear away at his body._

_With his last breath, Unlimited closed his eyes, and on the wind, the Z-fighters heard, "Farewell..."_

_At that moment, Unlimited became unbearably bright to look at, and they heard Infinite yell, "I WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED, UNLIMITED!"_

_In the present..._

_Now, I can't return to their realm._

Unlimited looked around the void again and sensed for a power that could match the Z-fighters from before. Then, he felt in a certain direction, and he stopped.

_Hmm, that power, it seems quite incredible, what is it?_

Closing his eyes, he sensed into the past of this power, and saw that it was actually 7 glowing gems, and, floating among them was a golden hedgehog.

Unlimited opened his eyes and said to himself, "The Chaos Emeralds... There's spectacular power there... And the hedgehog... Sonic... There's a unique energy in that fighter."

Unlimited smirked and thought, _Well, this is going to be interesting._

At that moment, Unlimited's body was encased with black energy again, and soon, he disappeared.

In this realm, known as Earth once again but now with an entirely different resident team of heroes, humans exist like in both Unlimited's realm and the Z-fighters'. However, the heroes of this realm are, in actuality, the farthest thing from humans.

Station Square...

On top of a rooftop of a huge mansion, a sight unlike anything that could be seen in that world before was sleeping. Resembling a hedgehog, the being was totally colored blue, and had the features of a human. He seemed bored but content since the day before.

Then, the hedgehog began to hear a voice in his mind.

"Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sonic awoke suddenly, wondering who was talking to him. He looked down the side of the house and saw no one around. Confused, he asked aloud, "Who's there?"

"I'm speaking through your mind Sonic."

Sonic looked up and seemed to understand, and he asked, wondering if he maybe went crazy, "Who are you?"

"You'll find out in good time, but first, you'll have to meet me at Green Fields (I didn't know a place that was just open fields, so I made one up.)"

"Green Fields, huh? Why do you want me?" Sonic inquired.

"Come to the fields and I'll tell you."

And with that, the hedgehog decided to jump down and head there, curious about what had just happened.

Sonic had only jumped down from the roof when he heard a voice from the window behind him.

"Sonic! Where are you going?"

Sonic turned around to see his close friend Amy in the window, of course unhappy to know that Sonic would've left without her knowing.

Knowing that he could get into trouble without knowing what he was up against, he told her, "Somehow someone talked to me in my mind just now. I have to go to Green Fields to see what's going on."

Amy asked, "Who talked to you?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Sonic declared, and nearly began to run to his destination when Amy yelled, "Wait, Sonic!"

He turned around and said, "What is it?"

Amy had a look of worry once again in her eyes and she said, "Please be careful."

Sonic smiled warmly and gave her the thumbs up, and then sped away towards Green Fields.

Amy looked after him, thinking, _Please be careful Sonic. I don't know what'd I do without you._

Speeding through the city, Sonic finally left the outskirts of the city and reached Green Fields. It was completely bare, a totally flat expanse of grass in all directions.

Sonic looked around smiling and said, "Hey, if it was just my imagination, at least I got a big place to run around in."

And Sonic began to do just that.

For at least 10 minutes, Sonic darted around the huge landscape.

Sonic then said to himself, "Well, looks like I just need to take it easy, I'm hearing things."

However, just as he seemed to leave, a sudden blast of black energy appeared in front of his path.

"WHOA! What the?!" Sonic exclaimed.

Before Sonic, the black mass roiled and transformed, slowly creating what looked like a human. After a moment of standing there transfixed, Sonic prepared to face what was being formed before him.

Finally, the black energy subsided and there stood a tall teen, wearing a completely black fighting outfit and five bracelets around his arm. Sonic looked at the teen's face and saw that he had incredibly deep blue eyes.

The being then said, "Hello, Sonic. It's good to finally meet you."

Sonic stood his ground and asked, "Who are you?"

The being smirked and said, "I am Unlimited."

"Unlimited, huh? How do you know who I am?"

Unlimited looked to the blue hedgehog, "Well, you are seen as this planet's hero. You're very well known the world over."

Sonic then smiled and scratched his nose, saying, "Well, you got me there. I do have quite a lot of fans."

"I also know that you are quite a fighter, that you've fought against incredible enemies," Unlimited told Sonic.

Sonic smiled and understood, saying, "So you want to fight against me, huh? Sounds fun."

"Then, shall we?"

Sonic said nothing and just prepared to go at it with Unlimited.

Unlimited, at this moment, dropped one bracelet off his arm, and said, "Let's go."

Sonic immediately charged Unlimited, and threw a punch at him. Unlimited however, demonstrated that he was pretty fast himself, and easily blocked the attack.

Sonic seemed surprised but took it in stride, running past him and jumping into the air, coming back down trying to kick Unlimited.

However, the next moment, Unlimited lifted into the air and flew up, dodging Sonic's attack.

"What?! You can fly?!" Sonic exclaimed, shocked.

Unlimited smirked, and flew back down at Sonic and tried to kick him. Sonic easily dodged the attack, but wasn't prepared for the subsequent punch that flew at him. Unlimited got Sonic right in the gut, and the blue hedgehog flew back a bit.

"Wow! You're pretty good!" Sonic told Unlimited.

"Is this all you have to offer me, Sonic?" Unlimited asked.

Sonic smiled again, and then began to run towards him. Just before Sonic reached Unlimited, he rolled into a spinball and took off, hitting Unlimited hard and sending him backwards.

Unlimited steadied himself without hitting the ground, but was hit again by another spinball attack.

Sonic stopped for a moment and looked at Unlimited, who had already hit the ground.

Sonic smiled and said, "Well, you're not as strong as I thought."

Unlimited, to Sonic's confusion, only chuckled as he rose up off the ground, suddenly encircled by a white aura.

"Then, maybe I need to kick things up a bit," Unlimited said.

At that moment, Unlimited disappeared and reappeared behind Sonic, punching him hard in the back. The hedgehog jumped up quickly and became a spinball again. However, whenever Sonic tried to hit Unlimited with the spinball, the teen would disappear. Four times, Sonic tried to hit him with the attack, but to no avail. The fifth time around, Unlimited appeared and kicked Sonic up into the air. However, he didn't count on Sonic returning with a hard kick to the face. Unlimited went down while Sonic rolled up again and nailed Unlimited before he hit the ground. Unlimited flew up into the air a few feet and landed hard on the ground.

"Well," Sonic said, stopping a little away from Unlimited, "You're pretty good, but you've got a ways to go before you can beat me."

"Is that so?" Unlimited mysteriously said from the ground.

Sonic looked at the teen, confused once again, and watched as Unlimited stood up again with almost no effort.

"Your power is quite great, but you've yet to see any of my true power," Unlimited told Sonic.

Sonic smiled again, and said, "Well, let's see it then."

Unlimited smirked, and another bracelet came off his arm.

Sonic noticed this and said, "I get it. Those things tell me how much power you're using, right?"

Unlimited smiled, saying, "Now, I think you'll like what you see next."

Pumping his arms, Unlimited's energy rocketed up, unbeknownst to Sonic, and Unlimited was now surrounded by a blue aura.

"Nice, I like this change," Sonic said.

"Well, let's see how you can handle it."

Suddenly Unlimited raised his hand and launched a wave of energy from his hand, flying right at Sonic.

Sonic, again surprised, said, "Uh oh!"

Quickly, Sonic rolled up again and took off towards Unlimited, dodging the attack which exploded where Sonic had been. As Sonic approached Unlimited, the teen got ready, and then, even though Sonic moved around Unlimited to get behind him, the teen spun around and kicked Sonic into the air, quickly flying after him and hitting him towards the ground with an axhandle.

Sonic was quick and landed on his feet, but was taken by surprise when Unlimited appeared in front of him and kicked him hard. Sonic flew backwards and Unlimited followed closely, kicking Sonic again in the side.

The hedgehog went down hard, and he said, "Ow. This guy means business."

Sonic got up and, to his shock, was standing right in front of Unlimited. Sonic, in reflex, tried to punch Unlimited in the face, but his fist was easily caught, and Sonic gasped.

Unlimited smirked and said, "Time to go for a ride."

Unlimited then turned and threw Sonic towards the ground, making the hedgehog hit hard.

Sonic cried out a little, but was quick and tried to get away for a moment. As he ran from Unlimited, he said, "Think you can catch me? Probably not!"

However, Sonic then looked forward and saw Unlimited standing right in front of him.

"WHAT?!" Sonic exclaimed.

Sonic ran as fast as could in the other direction. However, Unlimited once again got in his path. For several tries, Sonic tried to give Unlimited the slip, but failed each time.

Sonic became frustrated the sixth time he tried, and this time, he rolled into a ball and flew at him. Before he got there, Unlimited jumped into the air and dropped kicked Sonic as he passed underneath him. Sonic hit the ground and bounced to a stop.

"Wow... How did he do that?" Sonic wondered aloud.

His problems got worse as he tried to stand up and he got nailed in the face with a punch, sending him to the ground again.

Sonic now just lay on the ground, trying to think of a way to get out of here or beat Unlimited. But it was mere seconds before he heard, "So that's it?"

Sonic opened his eyes, weary from the fight and losing hope, and saw Unlimited standing over him.

"Well, I wasn't expecting too much power out of one fighter," Unlimited told the hedgehog.

Sonic looked nervously into Unlimited's face, and the teen said, "I won't kill you... In fact, I'll make the pain stop until your friends come and pick you up."

Unlimited raised a hand in front of himself and an energy ball formed.

Sonic's eyes filled with fear, and Unlimited said, "Nice try, Sonic, but you still have much to improve upon."

However, just as Unlimited prepared to attack, he heard a jet engine blast over his head. Then, from out of nowhere, a huge object smashed Unlimited in the face and sent him flying backwards. Unlimited got up from the ground to see what had hit him. Even though his vision was blurred from the attack, he was able to see that, now, what looked like a pink hedgehog was standing next to Sonic.

"No one hurts my Sonic while I'm around!"

Unlimited shook his head once and looked again, and saw that it was Amy with her hammer that had knocked him nearly blind.

On the ground next to Amy, Sonic looked up at his friend and said, "You saved me, Amy."

Amy turned to Sonic and smiled brightly, saying, "Of course. I'd do anything to help you."

Amy helped Sonic to his feet, giving him a one-armed hug as he stood up, and he returned it. Sonic gave Amy a warm look and smile, making Amy nearly blush.

"But now, we have someone to deal with," Sonic told his friend beside him.

Amy, gripping her hammer, said, "Yeah, let's teach this guy not to mess with our friendship."

Unlimited stood up, the attack still clouding his perception, but it was only made worse when another massive hit to the head came from the side. Unlimited was sent tumbling away, and although he quickly regained his balance, he was in pain for sure.

"Don't think you're just gonna challenge Sonic buddy! I'm gonna show you a real fight!"

The two hedgehogs from the other side of the battlefield called, "Knuckles!"

Indeed, it was the red echidna that had bashed Unlimited right in the face. He stared at Unlimited as the other two did.

Now, Unlimited lifted into the air a little, but wasn't aware that a large vehicle was about to hit him from behind.

BAM!

Unlimited was shot into the sky as a jet hit him from behind while stopping. Once it stopped, the cockpit opened and Sonic called, "Hey Tails, good parking!"

The fox turned and smiled, saying, "I would fight with the X-Tornado, but I don't want to have too unfair an advantage over that guy."

Tails jumped down and came over to where the other three fighters were waiting.

Tails then asked, "So who is that guy?"

Sonic replied, "He calls himself Unlimited, but he doesn't seem to be doing very well when he's against all of us."

Unlimited had now stopped in mid-air, looming over the fighters below and concentrating. However, one more attack would suprise Unlimited from behind, as another fighter appeared right behind Unlimited and gave him a hard kick to the back and sent him sailing to the ground.

Sonic and his friends looked up to the attacker and saw, in amazement who it was.

"SHADOW!!" They all called.

Surely enough, the black and red hedgehog, whom they all thought had been killed by the intense fight yesterday, was descending from the sky after knocking Unlimited to the ground.

Sonic then asked the hopefully-allied hedgehog, "How did you make it out of there?"

The gruff fighter replied, "I was able to use Chaos Control after we made our final attack. I waited until I deemed it necessary to come back. This guy was enough."

"Alright, great to have you back on our side!" Sonic said.

"Forget it, Sonic."

The blue hedgehog looked confusedly at his black counterpart, who said, "I only came here because this guy's a threat to the world. Our score isn't settled yet."

Sonic only chuckled a bit, but all five of the fighters now heard a second person chuckling.

From across the battlefield, they saw Unlimited standing, encased in his blue aura. He seemed somewhat damaged but not out yet.

"It seems that the numbers are stacked against me," Unlimited said.

The five fighters got ready to fight again.

"Your friends, huh, Sonic? Let's see..." Unlimited said, then lifting his hand and pointing, saying, "Knuckles, Amy, Tails, and Shadow..."

The five opponents seemed a little nervous about Unlimited knowing their names, although Amy said, "Yeah, well, we just all told you our names. Besides, all of us can beat you now!"

"But don't you see..." Unlimited said mysteriously, and he looked down at his arm, from which another bracelet dropped off.

"I haven't even begun to fight for real!"

At that moment, Unlimited blasted into his red aura, his arms crossed, and he said, "Let's see what all five of you can do."

Although the five opponents were worried about what Unlimited's power would become, they remained steady, and Sonic said, smiling confidently, "We'll stop you!"

With the Sonic team now up to five against Unlimited, things seem a little brighter. But can this team of fighters do the job and defeat one of the most powerful beings ever known?

Preview for next chapter: Desperate Times: The battle between the Sonic team and Unlimited get heated up. Unlimited, with only two bracelets left, has some difficulty dealing with Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and Shadow all at once. However, the battle would intensify incredibly once Unlimited brings out the "gold" game. Can Sonic and his friends stop Unlimited? Find out next time in Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	2. Desperate Times

Fanfiction and the character Unlimited is property of Josh Kovatch, 2008

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 2: Desperate Times

As the two sides stared each other down, Unlimited's aura writhed red, until the teen smirked again.

At that moment, Unlimited took off towards the five fighters, at which Sonic said, "Spread out!"

The others did so as Sonic turned into a spinball again and darted at Unlimited. Unlimited was preparing to counter, but just as Sonic approached, Tails flew in from the sky and tried to kick Unlimited. Unlimited turned and blocked Tails's attack, and then jumped over Sonic as he tried to hit Unlimited from behind. However, it was the third attack that got Unlimited as Knuckles bashed Unlimited from behind. Then, as Unlimited tumbled forward and quickly stood back up, he was nailed by Sonic who had turned around to try again. Unlimited flew into the air, and watched as Tails, Knuckles on his back, flew up at him. Knuckles jumped off and tried to kick Unlimited out of the sky, but Unlimited easily dodged, and then blocked Tails's next kick. But once again, he got a third attack from behind when Shadow appeared and axhandled Unlimited.

The teen fell fast through the sky, but landed on his feet, quickly kicking Sonic, who was still a spinball, into the air.

Then from behind, Unlimited heard Amy said, "You're not gonna hurt Sonic anymore!"

Unlimited turned and began to dodge Amy's hammer attacks one by one. She was attacking fast, but Unlimited was able to handle it. However, even to Amy's surprise, her hammer suddenly flew out of her hands and smashed Unlimited right in the gut, sending him backwards into the ground. Amy's hammer flew back into her hands and she looked in surprise at Unlimited.

Amy then smiled and said, "That's what you deserve!"

But then, to stop Amy from acting big from one attack, Unlimited jumped up and flew at her lightning fast. Amy gasped and prepared to take the hit, when she felt herself swept off her feet.

Amy opened her eyes and saw that Sonic had quickly gotten her out of there, and she said, "Oh Sonic! You saved me!"

Sonic smiled and winked at her, making Amy beam. But, Sonic didn't notice until almost too late that Unlimited was right behind them.

"WHOA! This guy's keeping up!" Sonic said.

However, Unlimited would stop dead in his tracks when all three of the other fighters attacked from both of Unlimited's sides and above him.

Unlimited stopped from the shock, and then was sent hurtling back after all of them attacked him from the front. He skidded to a stop and dropped to a knee.

The five fighters grouped up again, waiting to fight some more.

Unlimited however, chuckled now, and said, "Well, I think it's my turn."

At that moment, Unlimited blasted from the ground and launched himself towards the group. Everyone spread out again, but Knuckles tried to give Unlimited a heavy hit. However, as Knuckles got close, Unlimited disappeared and reappeared behind the echidna and kicked him from behind.

Tails flew in from the sky again, and this time, Unlimited flew right at Tails and punched him way before the fox could do anything. Tails fell to the ground as Sonic jumped into the air towards Unlimited, nearly punching him from behind. Unlimited, just at the last moment, moved to the side just enough, and came down with a fierce elbow to Sonic's back. Sonic fell fast to the ground and Unlimited followed him, ready to attack again.

From a distance away, though, Amy yelled, raising her hammer, "Leave him ALONE!!"

Unlimited looked at Amy, and Sonic yelled, "Amy! Wait!"

Unlimited and Amy, however, were already advancing towards each other. Amy brought up her hammer as he got close, and yelled as she brought it down at Unlimited.

There was a thunderous collision, but Amy didn't see what she hit. The others saw, unfortunately, that Unlimited's fist had hit the hammer.

For a moment, Amy stood there, wondering what was happening, when all of a sudden...

CRACK!! BOOM!

Amy saw the head of her hammer break off from the stem and hit the ground, a massive dent in the front of the hammer.

Amy looked down sadly at the handle, a tear welling up in her eye, when suddenly, her face turned ferocious, and then, she snapped the handle in two.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Amy screamed.

Then, from some deep part of her body, Amy brought out strength that shocked Unlimited especially when she kicked him right in the gut. Unlimited gasped and doubled over, and was given no mercy when Amy clenched her fists and punched Unlimited hard in the face, sending him backwards to the ground.

Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles stared wide-eyed at Amy, who was still breathing hard from her anger. Just then, Sonic ran up beside her and said, "Now that's the Amy I like to see."

Amy then softened, smiling, and put her hands behind her head, saying, "Glad to help you out."

They heard a grunt and the two hedgehogs looked at Unlimited again, seeing him get up from Amy's surprise attack.

"Let's get him, Sonic!" Amy said.

Sonic smiled and nodded, and the two ran towards Unlimited. Sonic ran to stay even with Amy until they were close enough, and Sonic darted behind Unlimited, who turned and blocked Sonic's punch, but couldn't turn to block Amy's. Sonic, when Unlimited was distracted from the hit, kicked Unlimited back to Amy, who knocked him back in the other direction.

They kept up the Unlimited tennis for 5 hits when they heard Knuckles call, "Leave something for me!"

The two hedgehogs got out of the way as Knuckles and the others raced towards Unlimited. Knuckles jumped forward first and punched but was blocked by Unlimited. Shadow then darted forward and tried to kick Unlimited in the gut, but the teen brought up a knee and blocked him as well. Finally, Tails flew up above them all and finally got Unlimited with a kick to the back of the head. Knuckles and Shadow then both punched Unlimited forward, sending him to the ground once again.

The five Sonic team members grouped up again and looked at the downed Unlimited, thinking that the battle might be won.

Of course, unfortunately, Unlimited got up again, but seemed extremely tired and was panting from the series of hits he took.

Sonic smiled and said, "Well, ready to give up?"

At this, Unlimited began to smirk and even laugh lightly.

"Give up? Why would I? I'm not finished yet."

Amy stepped forward and said, "Not finished yet? We just beat you around like a rag doll!"

Unlimited smirked some more and said, "Yes, while I've been using this much of my power."

The Sonic team became fearful, and Unlimited lifted his arm and another bracelet came off of it.

"Now, why don't you do that again?" Unlimited asked.

Just then, the ground shook and dust was kicked up from Unlimited's new powerup. The Sonic team got ready, and watched as the red aura thrashed violently around Unlimited until it suddenly blasted away from his body to reveal a brand new gold aura encasing Unlimited.

A couple of the Sonic team members uttered sounds of wonder at the new color, which enveloped Unlimited to make him look divine.

Unlimited then raised his arms to the side and said, "Go ahead. Give me a try."

Amy took that offer immediately, and ran right for Unlimited.

"AMY! Wait a second!" Sonic tried, but Amy was already nearly at Unlimited.

"This is for hurting Sonic before!" Amy yelled and jumped at Unlimited and threw a hard punch at his face.

POW!!

The punch contacted precisely in Unlimited's face, but the other Sonic team members gasped at what happened. Amy looked nervously at Unlimited, who had not moved an inch from Amy's attack.

Unlimited chuckled as Amy began to walk backwards, more scared than she had even been.

Before Unlimited started to do anything, all the rest of the Sonic team bolted forward, Sonic and Shadow ahead of Knuckles and Tails. Sonic reached forward and grabbed Amy's hand to wake her up, and the two of them ran out of there as Shadow flew up at Unlimited and kicked him in the gut.

It was even more of a shock to see how even Shadow could do nothing to Unlimited, and Shadow thought, _Who is this guy?!_

Unlimited then smirked, and then spun and kicked Shadow in the side and sent him down for a little while. Knuckles came up from behind and tried again, but after punching Unlimited in the back of the head and doing nothing, he began to punch rapidly, attacking from all sides but doing hardly a thing to the teen.

Finally, Knuckles stopped punching, and Tails flew up beside him, saying, "Let's attack him in unison!"

"Right!" Knuckles agreed, and the two fighters began to make sure that they hit Unlimited at the same time, but once again, Unlimited seemed unbeatable.

From over on another side of the battlefield, Sonic held Amy's hand, which she had been blushing about, but they both watched their friends try to do SOMETHING against Unlimited.

Sonic then said to Amy, "Amy, listen. I'm going to protect you from him. Don't leave my side. Please... I don't want you to get hurt."

Amy, however dreamy about Sonic caring about her, said panickly, "But he'll kill you, Sonic! He took down Shadow in one hit! I can't stand to see you get hurt!"

Sonic then turned to Amy and said, "Amy, please, there's no other way... I'll protect you with my life..."

"Sonic, no, please..." Amy pleaded of the one she cared so much about, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Knuckles and Tails jumped back and Knuckles yelled, "Give him your best attack!"

The two fighters flew right at Unlimited, but the teen quickly knocked both fighters aside with a hand each and headed for Sonic and Amy.

Sonic saw this and watched as Unlimited stormed at him and Amy.

"Sonic, NO!" Amy begged, but Sonic only turned as fast as he could, holding Amy in his arms away from Unlimited, knowing that it was too late to run from the unbelievable Unlimited.

Unlimited bolted forward and rammed Sonic, hitting him in the left shoulder and causing a massive, sickening crack!

"AHHHHHHHH!!" Sonic screamed out in pain, his arm hit so hard, that it had broken in 3 places, one of which was hit so hard that his shoulder would be unable to be repaired.

And there, right next to him, beginning to forcefully cry, Amy cried, "SONIC!!"

The two hedgehogs hit the ground hard, but Sonic held Amy close and kept her from getting hurt.

"SONIC! SONIC!" Amy cried in panic as she got Sonic off of her and looked at his arm.

"AHHHH!!" Sonic shouted out, his own eyes filling with tears from the unbearable pain.

Amy felt his pain course through her like acid, burning her with suffering to see Sonic so hurt. She cried, dropping next to Sonic, and gasped, "SONIC!!"

Sonic laid on the ground on his good arm, his broken one bent in one wrong place and dislocated and shattered from his shoulder.

Sonic then gasped out, "Amy! Get out... of here... He'll hurt you too!"

"No, Sonic! I will not leave you like this! I don't care how much he hurts me! I can't leave you!" Amy cried to him.

Unlimited now stood on the side, his arms crossed and his face now serious, knowing how crushing a hit he'd given the hedgehog.

From the other side of the battlefield, Tails and Knuckles came over, bruised themselves.

Amy cried, "There's gotta be a way to win!"

Then, from behind the first four Sonic team members, a voice said, "There is."

They turned, and even Sonic looked towards the voice, and saw Shadow holding one arm as he walked towards the group.

"What is it?!" Amy yelled, wanting nothing more than to beat Unlimited and save Sonic.

Sonic, however, already knew, and said, "Are you sure they're necessary to use just for this?"

Shadow became a little irritated, saying, "Let me put it this way Sonic. None of us can hurt that guy and you have an injury that can't be repaired without them! You tell me when it's necessary!"

"HOW CAN WE BEAT HIM?!" Amy then yelled, angry but still worried to tears for Sonic.

Shadow became serious and said, "The Chaos Emeralds."

Knuckles and Tails looked on in surprise as Sonic finally said, with a faint smile, "Fine, let's do it."

Amy gently picked up Sonic and held him up as Shadow spread his arms to the sides.

Then, after a moment, Shadow summoned the seven Chaos Emeralds to him, and said, "Everyone get close to me so we can absorb the power."

Knuckles and Tails stepped forward, but Sonic and Amy waited a moment as Sonic said, a weak smile on his face, "Everything's gonna work out, Amy."

"Please, you can do it, Sonic..." Amy said back, and then, Sonic got a look in his eyes, and Amy saw, and knew what he was about to say.

However, Shadow interrupted, "COME ON!! He's going to attack again!"

Unlimited seemed to be waiting for them to continue, however, and finally, Amy and Sonic stepped forward and light encased all five fighters. The light then spread brilliantly, hiding the Sonic team from sight.

Unlimited looked on, his arms now at his sides, and his eyes filled with realization.

_I never realized how powerful the Chaos Emeralds were._

The light poured from the five, and from within, despite the blinding light, Amy looked to Sonic and said softly, "Your arm..."

Sonic looked warmly to Amy with his red eyes, smiling, and said, "Couldn't be better!"

Then, the light suddenly flared once more and finally lifted from all five of them, surprising Unlimited with what he saw next.

Now, all five fighters shone in their gold fur, their energy increased unbelievably. Unlimited and the others all looked to Sonic and saw that his arm was completely healed, and he said, with a thumbs up, "Good as new!"

The Sonic team was happy that Sonic was back at full power, and now, they looked to Unlimited to continue the battle.

Sonic then said to Unlimited, "Well, looks like we're all gold now!"

But to put one final fear into the day, Unlimited once again smirked. All of the Sonic team now seemed frustrated by this, but of course, fearful of what would happen next.

"I'm afraid I'll have to depart from the gold form now, since your energy has increased far beyond what I can do with this power," Unlimited told them, once again lifting his arm.

Unlimited, with a burst of electricity up and down his arm, detached the final bracelet from himself, and looked at the five fighters, his deep blue eyes penetrating the red eyes of his opponents.

Unlimited then thought, _This is very familiar to when I first used all of the power._

In the past...

_Finally, Unlimited spoke, "Now you will experience...the force..." Unlimited then thrust his body, beginning to charge up, and yelled, "OF UNLIMITED POWER!!"_

_Unlimited's strength then jumped as his pupils faded out, his teeth clenched, and he shook as his energy shot up. Rocks began to lift and break as they rose, and a crater was beginning to form underneath Unlimited. Then, electricity came from all over his body, and suddenly, two gigantic lightning bolts came from the cloudless sky and circled Unlimited, charging him with enormous power. _

Back in the present...

_I won't need to use such incredible techniques like that this time._

Then, Unlimited said, "Now it's time you understood the meaning of unlimited power."

Suddenly, Unlimited's energy increased beyond anything he had displayed thus far. As his gold aura thrashed around, tearing up the ground, he began to kick up dust all around him, concealing him. After a few moments, Unlimited was completely hidden from sight.

Then, they heard something strange from within the column of dust: what sounded like someone snapping their fingers. Then, on the ground before the Sonic team, light began to emit and a symbol was formed on the ground outside the dust surrounding Unlimited. It was an infinity symbol.

"What's that there for?" Knuckles wondered out loud.

"I don't know, but I think we're about to find out!" Sonic exclaimed, as electricity and wind began to emanate from the inside of the column of dust.

Finally, the dust flew out in all directions as the wind and electricity tore up the dust, until finally, it was completely gone, revealing Unlimited, surrounded now by his menacing black aura.

Unlimited smirked from the looks of apprehension on the Sonic team's faces, and said, "Now, one more thing."

Once again, Unlimited raised his hand, and again, he snapped his fingers, and light came out of them. It flew into the air and returned to Unlimited, striking his forehead and forming another infinity symbol.

Unlimited looked up once more and finally said, "Let's finish this."

At that moment, the extremely overpowered fighters all began to charge at Unlimited, who took off from the ground and raced towards the Sonic team. Then, as the five neared, all but Sonic veered off course and Sonic rolled up again. He shot at Unlimited at insane speed, but was blocked by Unlimited once again. He went around him and tried again, but 3 times the hedgehog was blocked. Then, from out of nowhere, Knuckles ran at Unlimited from behind after Sonic distracted him.

"I've got you now!" Knuckles said as he threw a blisteringly fast punch. Unlimited, however, disappeared and reappeared in the sky above Knuckles and prepared to fire an energy blast.

However, Shadow was the first to show that Unlimited could now be hurt as he appeared and axhandled Unlimited from behind. As Unlimited fell, Tails zoomed in and got several shots in, knocking Unlimited around the sky. Finally, as the teen neared the ground, Amy stormed up, her own speed incredible, and kicked the upside down Unlimited in the back, sending him tumbling.

Amy came to a rest and looked at the downed teen as Sonic appeared beside her.

Amy then said, "This power is so amazing! I love it!"

Then Sonic, for no reason he could think of, said, "Yeah, but the gold isn't you. I like pink on you better."

"Really, Sonic?!" Amy turned and cried in hopefulness.

The gold Sonic nodded, and the two hedgehogs just barely started turning to each other when they heard Knuckles yell, "Wake up!"

The two looked back at Unlimited and saw an energy wave flying at them. The two prepared and smashed the blast with their fists together, and the attack flew off course.

Unlimited stood there, his arm still raised, ready to continue attacking.

Amy then began to twitch, and she screamed, "YOU RUINED OUR MOMENT!!"

Amy blasted towards Unlimited as Sonic called, "Hey, wait up!!"

The two hedgehogs ran at about the same speed towards the teen as he began to fire a barrage of blasts at them. The two dodged and sidestepped shots easily until they reached Unlimited, who suddenly disappeared as they nearly had him.

"Where'd he go?!" Amy said, angry and confused.

Just then, however, they heard a sound behind them and the two turned to see a huge blast flying right at them.

"Go around it and get him!" Sonic told Amy, at which she nodded.

The two took off around the attack as it hit the ground and exploded, and they both jumped straight at Unlimited, trying to grab on to him to take him down. At the last minute, however, Unlimited once again disappeared and the two hedgehogs suddenly found themselves in each others' arms.

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment after they realized they missed, and stopped, suddenly surprised but curious.

They each only smiled to each other before Shadow yelled from the ground, "HEY!! This is no time to get cozy!!"

The two suddenly came back to reality and descended to the ground, both of them slightly blushing, looking and smiling at each other one more time before looking back to the battle. Meanwhile, Knuckles and Unlimited were going at it, the echidna letting dozens of punches fly at the teen, but Unlimited blocking them all. Then, from the other side, Tails flew in and tried to do the same from behind Unlimited, but the teen remarkably starting blocking each fighter with one hand.

Finally, Shadow on the ground said, "That's it!"

Shadow then blasted towards Unlimited from the front, but at the last moment, Unlimited did a backflip in the air, kicking Shadow in the head and still blocking the attacks from both sides.

Then, as Unlimited righted himself, he spun around at undetectable speed and punched both fighters down.

On the ground, Sonic then said to Amy, "Here! Jump on!"

Sonic rolled into a spinball again, and Amy quickly jumped on it. As soon as she was on it, Sonic took off to keep Amy from flying off. The two flew at Unlimited, and as they came near, Amy jumped off and tried to kick Unlimited in the chest, but was blocked. Then Sonic came up as a spinball and did the same but was also blocked. Finally, the two then backed up and appeared to attack Unlimited from the front.

At the last second, Sonic flew behind Unlimited and kicked him to Amy, who axhandled the teen to the ground. As he went down, the two hedgehogs gave each other a thumbs up, when all of a sudden, a wave of energy hit both of them and knocked them down to the ground.

Unlimited floated just above the ground and looked around, seeing that all five of his opponents were now suddenly storming him from all sides.

Before they got there, Unlimited brought his arms and legs close to his body, folding up in the air. His black aura whirled and slashed the air violently, and then it was absorbed into Unlimited, who yelled just as the five fighters nearly hit him at once. He threw out his arms and legs and a electrified ball of energy blew up from Unlimited, extending in all directions against the attacking Sonic team. The five fighters were blasted back but easily stayed on their feet as the black energy protected Unlimited.

Once all of them were pushed back about 30 feet, Unlimited let down the barrier, his black aura circling around him and keeping his guard up against the Sonic team.

Each member was still going strong. None of them seemed to be run down at all.

Unlimited saw this and knew that the fight was at an end.

Finally, the teen said to them all, "Enough. There is no reason to fight any longer."

All five Sonic team members looked up in total confusion at the teen.

Is the fight really over? Why has Unlimited called the battle now?

Preview for Chapter 3: Winning Them Over: With the battle over, Unlimited now begins to explain himself, trying to make them understand he isn't evil. Each of them, especially Shadow, needs real convincing, except for Amy, who felt Unlimited did something more than just fight. What does she say? Will Unlimited redeem himself? Find out in the next installment of Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	3. Winning Them Over

Fanfiction and the character Unlimited is property of Josh Kovatch, 2008

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 3: Winning Them Over

The five Sonic team members looked at the powerful teen who had just said that the fight was over, totally lost.

"So that's it, we won?" Tails asked out loud.

Unlimited turned to him and said, "Yes. After fighting this intensely against all of you, I've come to realize that your power in numbers and skills is much greater when your unbreakable spirit and determination brings you together as a team. I can say that you five have what it takes to beat me, so there's no need to go on, as I've no reason to win."

Unlimited turned to Sonic and said, "As I told you, this was a fight to test my skills, not for keeps."

Sonic said nothing, although still a little confused, but Shadow broke the silence by saying, "I'm not buying it!!"

Unlimited turned to Shadow, who said, "You're just trying to play into our good graces to attack us once we don't have full power anymore!"

"Yeah, I bet that's right!" Knuckles chimed in.

"Wait!"

The rest of team looked around and saw that it was Amy who said this. She stepped forward towards Unlimited, none of the others saying anything now.

She looked at Unlimited, her red eyes returning to their emerald green ones as the Chaos Emeralds' power left her.

"I believe what he's saying," Amy told the others.

Unlimited turned and gave a small smile at her faith, as she continued, "He might have been really strong and hurt us, especially Sonic..."

Sonic sweatdropped and scratched the back of his head, but Amy went on, "But in truth, if it wasn't for him fighting us like this, Sonic and I wouldn't have cared so much for each other."

Sonic looked up and seemed to understand, as did all of the others besides Shadow, and Amy continued, "We both felt closer to each other than ever before. I have to thank you for that."

Amy smiled at Unlimited brightly, and Unlimited did the same, when Sonic said, "I'm with you Amy."

Sonic walked forward as Amy turned to him, and he said, "I did feel closer to you today."

Amy and Sonic smiled at each other, Amy blushing a little, and Sonic said to Unlimited, "And either way, you said in the beginning that you wanted to fight for fun."

Sonic extended a hand to Unlimited and said, "I believe you."

Unlimited shook hands with the hedgehog, and then, both Knuckles and Tails walked forward, all of their power fading now, and Tails said, "Yeah, me too."

Unlimited then turned to Amy again and said, "There is one thing I need to resolve though."

Unlimited raised his hand and snapped his fingers again, and Amy watched him closely. Then, in front of her, her hammer, in pieces, floated before her. She watched down in wonder as light suddenly started bringing the pieces back together and mending the damages.

Finally, the head of the hammer was repaired and attached to the handle, and it was fully restored.

"I didn't feel right about that, so I've repaired your hammer to be more durable and powerful than before," Unlimited explained.

"Wow! Thank you very much!" Amy cheered brightly, looking into Unlimited's eyes with happiness.

Despite these acts, however, Shadow showed that he now harbored a deep distrust, and said, "You're all fools!"

The Sonic team and Unlimited looked at him, Unlimited now serious, and Shadow, who had lost the Chaos Emeralds' power now, said, "I don't care what the rest of you think, I'm taking you down!"

Unlimited however, as Shadow started running at him, raised his hands and snapped his fingers again. Not ten feet away from Unlimited, Shadow stopped dead, his eyes looking blankly into space, and he seemed to be in a trance.

Sonic, surprised but not angry, asked, "What'd you do to him?"

"Don't worry. I've brought his mind into my own so he can understand first hand my true nature," Unlimited explained.

"In your mind?" Amy asked in wonder.

Unlimited nodded, focusing on maintaining the link between his and Shadow's minds.

Within...

Shadow glared around the black space around him and said, "Coward! Come out and fight me!"

Then, reverberating from the void around him, Shadow heard Unlimited's voice say, "If you want to fight me, then you'll first have to exit my mind."

"I don't have time for these stupid games!!" Shadow bellowed.

Ignoring him, Unlimited said, "Look forward, Shadow. What do you see?"

Angrily, the black and red hedgehog looked forward and saw a black, electrified ball of energy floating in the middle of space.

"A ball of energy?" Shadow asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes. Touch the energy in order to escape my mind," Unlimited told him.

"FINE THEN!!" Shadow yelled, and he sprinted to the energy before him.

However, when the hedgehog touched it, he suddenly found his world changing around him.

"What are you doing?!" Shadow demanded.

"What you are about to experience is the power that I possess and my intentions for it. It will be more intense than any feeling you've ever had. Prepare yourself, Shadow."

Suddenly, Shadow felt his mind ignite by a massive knowledge. He saw into different worlds and landscapes all at once, and soon, he was flying through them.

"You are seeing all of reality through my mind. Now, you'll see my nature," Unlimited told him.

Then, to Shadow's shock, he felt the whole of Unlimited's energy in his own mind, overloading his senses with unbelievable wisdom.

"This energy... It's... unreal!" Shadow exclaimed as the landscapes flashed by faster and faster.

Then, images of evil and darkness assaulted his senses, and, almost as if he were Unlimited, Shadow was destroying the evil forms, running through them with speed he never could've imagined.

The entire time, Shadow felt shock and realization, but he watched as he tore through evil creatures in darker and continually more hellish scenes.

"I only devote my power and life to destroying evil. If I fight someone who is not pure evil, it is not my goal to win, just to test their mettle," Shadow heard the teen's voice call out from above.

Deeper and deeper into the darkness, Shadow saw that Unlimited was truthful, as Shadow felt the energy taking him over as he neared a humongous arena. As he jumped into the arena, he was suddenly surrounded by the most horrible monsters he had never imagined. However, he felt the power pull him to the fight, guiding him as he shot through the crowd of twisted creatures.

"This is my nature, Shadow. Do you understand? Or is your mind not stressed enough?" Unlimited asked from above.

Despite the incredible experience he encountered so far, Shadow held on to his distrust one second longer and said, "No! You're lying!"

"Fine. Then let me show you the final part of my nature," Unlimited said.

Shadow then stopped, and he was in total darkness again. Then, from out of the ground, black smoke began to emanate and absorb into Shadow's body.

"What's going on?!" Shadow yelled out.

"The toxic evil is strong in your body, but it has not taken over. Let me guide you. Part with it now before it takes hold of you forever!"

Suddenly, Shadow felt his energy leave him, and he collapsed to his knees. He felt the evil flooding his body, and the creatures came up from the ground towards him.

Shadow felt his body and mind nearly shatter when he finally shouted, "Please! No more! I understand!!"

Then, instantly, Shadow was standing in Green Fields again, he body drained and his mind tested. His eyes readjusted and he looked up at Unlimited, standing directly before him.

By instinct, Shadow suddenly dropped to one knee before Unlimited and said, "Please, forgive me of my distrust. I am at your mercy."

"Stand Shadow."

Shadow looked up and saw Unlimited offer his hand to help Shadow back up. Without hesitation, Shadow grabbed his hand and got to his feet.

Behind, the rest of the Sonic team watched as Unlimited said to Shadow, "There is no need to kneel before me as an inferior. Your understanding makes you equal to me and everyone else who believes."

Shadow nodded and said, "Yes. I will believe."

Unlimited smiled lightly and closed his eyes, turning back to the others.

"Alright! Now you got all of us on your side!" Sonic said, giving a thumbs up to Unlimited.

"I'm grateful. Now, I've decided to stay here and help you fight evil. I will be wherever you need me to be, even if you don't know it," Unlimited said.

"Well, I don't about needing," Amy began to say, "But I'm sure we'd like you to hang around and meet our friends here."

"Yeah!" Sonic and Tails both agreed.

Unlimited smiled and said, "I'd appreciate that. Thank you."

Then, Shadow, despite his experience, turned to walk away, when Amy asked, "Shadow, don't you want to hang out for a little while?"

Shadow turned and scoffed, confusing the other Sonic team members.

"I may believe Unlimited, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be buddies with all of you," Shadow told them gruffly.

He looked specifically at Sonic and said, "We may have been allies today, Sonic, but we will fight again."

Sonic shrugged, grinning, and said, "Sure, whatever you want."

Shadow narrowed his eyes at his blue rival and turned away, beginning to skate away from the rest of them.

Knuckles then started to leave as well, Amy once again saying, "What, you too?"

Knuckles stopped and simply said, "I'm guarding the Master Emerald."

And with that, Knuckles took off, leaving the remaining four there at Green Fields.

Amy put a hand to her head and Sonic said, "Those guys are _really_ friendly, huh?"

Unlimited chuckled and said, "You three head back to your home. I can sense where you go. I'll meet you again in a little while."

"Where ya going?" Sonic asked, curious about what the superpowered teen would do here.

"To do about the same thing you like to do, Sonic," Unlimited said, smirking.

Sonic smiled, saying, "Exploring, huh? I'd come with ya, but you ran me ragged."

Unlimited chuckled once more and said, "See you later."

With a quick push off the ground, Unlimited took off into the sky and blasted away.

The three looked after him, Tails saying, "Everyday, there's a new challenge, but that guy was the best I've ever seen."

"He's mysterious. I wonder where he came from," Amy thought out loud.

"We'll find out. Let's just go back to Chris's house," Sonic said, the other two nodding. (Remember, set in Sonic X in Human Universe).

The three came back in the X Tornado, landing near the repair shop and getting out as Chris, Sonic and his friends' first human friend, ran up to them.

"Hey guys, where've you been at?" Chris asked, the Sonic team having been gone for over an hour.

"We met this guy out in Green Fields. He wanted to fight against us, so we tried him out. He was pretty easy," Sonic gloated.

"Give me a little credit," A familiar voice said from above.

The four on the ground looked up and saw Unlimited descending from the sky. Sonic freaked out and then began to whistle innocently, but Chris was especially surprised at what he was seeing.

"WHOA!! How can you fly like that?" Chris asked as Unlimited landed.

Unlimited smiled at the question, and then, Amy asked, "And for that matter, where did you come from?"

Before any of this could be answered, however, they heard another young voice say, "Sonic! Amy! Tails!"

They looked towards the house next to the shop and saw Cream and Cheese coming towards them.

"We've been wondering where you went," Cream said, but then looked at Unlimited, who, in his black fighting outfit, seemed a little intimidating.

"Who's that?" Cream timidly asked.

Sonic then answered one of the many questions, "This is Unlimited. He came from...uh, somewhere, to fight us."

Unlimited looked at each of them and said, "I'll explain."

Unlimited raised his eyes to the sky and said, "It started a few months ago..."

In his mind, Unlimited thought, _It's been awhile, but I still remember it as if it happened yesterday._

_Months earlier..._

_Suddenly, someone else from behind the young man yells, "HEY LOOK OUT!"_

_The teenaged boy spins around to see a ball of light flying right towards him. Instead of trying to move away from being hit, he throws up his arms and prepares to withstand it, in defiance of his body's limitations._

_"HEY, MOVE!" Others say as they get out of the way, but he stood there for an entire second to take the attack._

_The teen then petitions to a higher being_, _Give me the power, I beg of you._

_"Power beyond all comprehension, strength greater than words can explain. I prayed for it."_

After a little while, Unlimited finished explained himself, how he was from a different universe, how he was granted the power from a higher source, and how he had traveled to another realm before he came here.

"Wow, I never realized you could travel in between universes too!" Sonic exclaimed.

"First we were worried about this one and ours, and now you tell us about two more?" Amy asked, bewildered.

"Yes. Each of these universes has the same planet but with a different form of life and course of time," Unlimited explained.

"But why'd you travel to this one?" Chris asked.

Unlimited once again looked up and thought, _And that fight will forever haunt me..._

_"It all ends HERE!!"_

Unlimited came back to reality and said, "I was looking for a world that had a power that could contest my own. I wanted to meet the strongest in all of reality."

"Well, whatever you came here for, I say just take it easy," Amy said, "It's not good to fight all the time."

Amy, when she said this, had a tone in her voice as she glanced at Sonic, who scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I'll do what I can," Unlimited assured.

Amy smiled, and Sonic said, "In any case, we'll be happy to have you around."

Everyone outside nodded, but then, they heard Cheese yiping at something.

Cream and the others looked at the Chao, and saw that Cheese saw something in the sky. They looked up and saw a sparkle fly across the sky, but it was coming down near them. They watched it as it came down on the other side of the huge yard and hit, half burying itself.

Even from this distance, they all knew what it was by its shiny look.

"A Chaos Emerald!" Most of them said, and Amy began to run to it.

Sonic stayed behind, looking into the sky and realizing that they must've been scattered after they used them against Unlimited.

Smiling, Sonic said, "Well, at least we got one already."

Amy was upon the emerald, joyful and carefree. However, at that moment, Unlimited's calm face turned serious and he growled low.

Sonic and the others heard this and Sonic asked, "What's up?"

Unlimited then showed his teeth and said, "Amy, she's in great danger."

Sonic looked at Unlimited and said, "What?! From where?!"

Amy picked up the Chaos Emerald and began to run back across the yard with it.

Sonic didn't wait any longer, and ran towards her, trying to shield her from something he didn't know about yet.

Amy called, "I got it Sonic!"

Amy was laughing, but then became worried when she saw Sonic's face in panic.

"Amy! Get over here quick!" Sonic called, scared about what would happen.

But then, suddenly, Unlimited yelled, "Get down!"

Amy, unfortunately, didn't hear this in time, and never stood a chance.

There was suddenly a loud bang, that rang out all over the yard, but what was even louder was Amy's scream.

Sonic, just yards away from Amy, saw it happen. Her face was worried, but suddenly, her eyes shut and she screamed as she was knocked forward by an invisible force.

Sonic, despite all the times she had seen Amy get hurt, never saw her in so much horrific pain. His eyes widened, and deep inside of him, he felt as if a piece of his soul was shredded.

Finally, it all hit Sonic, that Amy was mortally wounded, and he cried, "AMY!!"

He blasted forward as the Chaos Emerald flew up into the air as Amy fell forward, the pain in her face stabbing Sonic in the heart.

Sonic finally reached Amy before she fell to the ground, and grabbed her, Sonic's eyes actually filling with tears as he caught Amy.

When he caught her and looked at her back, his body turned cold and his mouth fell open.

In her back, a gunshot wound shone bright red. Sonic caught Amy and fell to his own knees, turning Amy over and looking at her face.

Amy's eyes were closed and Sonic cried, "Amy! AMY! Please wake up!!"

Now, the tears in Sonic's eyes fell, as he realized, _I could've saved her. She could be here right now, but... she's gone..._

Sonic closed his eyes, laying Amy on the ground and holding one of her hands with both of his. He cried over her, looking at her and felt his heart tear.

Then, he heard a laugh, an evil, mocking laugh from what sounded like a robot.

Sonic looked up at the laugh and saw, to his and everyone's horror, the dreaded Mecha Sonic!! (Think Sonic 3's Mecha/Metal Sonic).

From over where Chris and the others were, Tails said in terror, "It's Mecha Sonic!"

Cream said in fear, holding Cheese, "How did he get here?"

Unlimited however, looked intently at the robot, and said, "Tails, get everyone inside."

"Why?" Tails said.

"It's dangerous for any of you to be out here," Unlimited told them, and he began to walk towards Mecha Sonic.

Tails didn't hesitate any more, and Chris, Cream and Cheese, and Tails went inside quickly.

Looming over Sonic, Mecha Sonic said to his organic counterpart, "Well, that was an easy target. And she even gave me the Chaos Emerald, the poor fool."

Mecha Sonic laughed maniacally at Sonic and the fallen Amy, and then, Sonic's anger rose in him like a beast, his tears flowing in extreme pain for seeing this happen, and he was about to storm at Mecha Sonic when Unlimited said, "Sonic! Wait!"

Sonic turned around and saw Unlimited walk past him and Amy as he said, "Don't run blindly into the fight. Amy is not dead yet. Give her comfort for when she does pass. You're the only thing keeping her alive."

Sonic didn't say anything, but his eyes turned to sorrow again as he looked back upon Amy again, holding her hand tightly.

"Please, Amy... Please... Wake up..." Sonic pleaded, his eyes filled with tears as he expressed his deepest emotions for her.

As he did this, Mecha Sonic grunted in confusion as Unlimited stepped up before the robot.

"And who are you?" Mecha Sonic asked.

Unlimited smirked and said, "I am Unlimited."

Sonic, his tears falling onto Amy, watched in horror and pain over his friend. Suddenly, Amy cried out, tears beginning to form in her own eyes from the wound she had.

"AMY!" Sonic cried out.

"Sonic! I tried to get the Chaos Emerald, but-" Amy gasped out, unable to move.

However, Sonic interrupted, "I don't care about the Chaos Emerald! It's you I care about! Amy, I'm so sorry! I should've protected you!"

Mecha Sonic then said to Unlimited, "Unlimited? And what do you think you can do against me?"

Unlimited told him, "I'm going to make you pay for hurting these two."

Mecha Sonic laughed at this and said, "HA! You'll make ME pay? I'll bring you down too!"

Mecha Sonic brought up his gun arm once again and pointed it at Unlimited.

Amy opened her eyes and gave a small smile, telling Sonic, "Don't blame yourself Sonic..."

Sonic couldn't take it anymore and told her, "Amy, I'm sorry about the way I've treated you these last few weeks! I know you've been trying to get me to pay attention to you, but I've been forgetting you!"

Mecha Sonic, at that moment, fired his gun again, a shattering bang issuing. However, to Mecha Sonic's sudden fear, Unlimited simply snatched the air in front of him and held up the long bullet that Mecha Sonic had just fired.

"WHAT?!" Mecha Sonic yelled in anger.

Unlimited took the bullet and looked at it, saying, "You've got quite a weapon there, but it's not going to work here."

Just then, Unlimited took the bullet and threw it at lightspeed and hit Mecha Sonic's gun, making it spark and explode.

Mecha Sonic yelled, "AGH! You'll regret that!!"

Sonic then held Amy's hand tighter as he said, "Amy... I have to tell you something... I wish with all my heart that I had told you this so much sooner..."

Amy looked into Sonic's eyes, her life fading away, and he said, his voice strained and cracking, "I'm sorry I've disappointed you so much Amy... But now, I have to tell you..."

Amy almost inaudibly said, "Sonic..."

Sonic's tear filled eyes met with Amy's, holding her hands with both of his so close, and he finished, "I love you, Amy..."

Amy's eyes filled with tears now, and she weakly said, "Oh, Sonic, I knew it was true... I knew you and I shared the same wonderful feeling..."

Mecha Sonic then flew up into the air and yelled, "Alright, that's it!! I'm not playing around!"

Mecha Sonic raised his robotic arms in front of himself and yelled, "I'm going to take you and everything else out right NOW!!"

Mecha Sonic then began to charge energy in his hands, and soon, Unlimited was standing ready.

"HAHAHA! Now, are you ready to be annihilated?!" Mecha Sonic yelled down at Unlimited.

However, the teen only smirked, and thought, _Well, maybe now's a good time to use the move I learned from my last adventure._

Before...

_"KAAA--MEEE--"_

"_I saw the raw energy and incredible power surging in that one attack, and it was incredible. I knew that, to be able to fight an attack like that, I needed to learn it."_

Back in front of Mecha Sonic...

Unlimited brought his hands up and put them together and then turned and held his hands close to his body, looking at Mecha Sonic.

Amy then said to Sonic, "I'm so happy now, Sonic... I... I can go peacefully..."

"No, Amy, NO!!" Sonic cried, his soul torn in all directions as he watched his beloved falling from his life.

Amy's eyes closed and her hands slipped from Sonic's as she finished, "I'll love you forever, Sonic... Thank you..."

And to the blue hedgehog's misery, Amy's eyes closed and her last breath exited her body. Her hands fell limp onto herself, and Sonic could do nothing but cry now, his eyes expressing the most pain he'd ever felt.

"Amy, no..." Sonic said in futility, laying down beside Amy and closing his eyes, crying for losing the girl he had loved and was loved by.

"Please Amy... Don't be gone..." Sonic pleaded.

Mecha Sonic then finished and suddenly yelled, "NOW DIE!!"

The robot blasted the energy beam at Unlimited, which threatened to take out everything in the area.

Unlimited, releasing four of his bracelets at that moment, began to speak: (Alert: Crossover moment)

"Kaaa, meee, haaa, meee..."

Within Unlimited's hands, bright blue energy formed and built up, bathing the area in blue, and finally, with a spark in Unlimited's eyes as Mecha Sonic's attack neared, he yelled:

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Thrusting forward his hands, Unlimited unleashed the unbelievable blast from his hands, a beam of blue energy so spectacular that it shook everything in the area.

It roared right at Mecha Sonic's attack and overtook it by at least double its size.

Mecha Sonic watched his attack disappear in shock and he yelled, "WHAT?! HOW CAN THIS BE?!"

Mecha Sonic was caught in the blast after only three seconds of Unlimited firing it, and he screamed as the blast overtook him, "THIS ISN'T OVER!! I'LL BE BACK!! I WILL WIN THIS FIGHT!!"

Finally, Mecha Sonic's yells faded out as the massive blue beam shot up into the sky and carried the robot with it. Unlimited stopped firing and watched as the blast exited the earth and took the menace with it.

_I won't let you hurt anyone like this again, Mecha Sonic,_ Unlimited affirmed.

From behind, Unlimited heard the four who had just gone inside come out, and Cream cried out, "Amy!"

The teen turned and saw all of them run up near Sonic, who was holding Amy's lifeless form close to himself as he continued to cry.

The four that ran up now lowered their eyes, Cream and Cheese beginning to tear up as well. Unlimited then turned and approached the group, his bracelets remaining off as he looked over the scene.

Unlimited looked at Sonic and said to him, "Sonic, could you move off of Amy, please?"

Sonic sobbed in misery and said, "I don't want to leave her. She wanted this when she was alive from me, and I never gave her my love. Now, I don't care if I die here too."

Unlimited closed his eyes and he told the emotionally destroyed hedgehog, "I can revive her."

Sonic's eyes flew open as the rest gasped at what they had just heard.

Sonic looked up at Unlimited and exclaimed, "You can actually bring her back?!"

"As long as you just hold her hand by her side," Unlimited told him.

Even though Sonic was hopeful, the hurt never left his eyes as he kneeled next to Amy, holding her hand tightly.

Unlimited then began to concentrate deeply, and then he snapped his fingers, his eyes focused, and then, light appeared in his hand and began to drift down to Amy. It entered her through her chest and, beneath her, the wound that took her life began to slowly shrink. Then, from her chest, in a case of light, the long bullet used to cruelly extinguish her life lifted out of her, and Sonic looked at it with awe.

Unlimited then sensed behind him and felt Mecha Sonic again, deep in space, awakening from the attack Unlimited had used on him.

Unlimited narrowed his eyes and the bullet shot up into the sky at lightspeed.

Mecha Sonic looked at the earth again and said, "Once I find that idiot again, I'll--"

At that moment, the bullet came up and nailed Mecha Sonic in the head, who yelled, "AAGGHH!!"

The robot was knocked out again, and down on earth, Unlimited smirked.

Below him, the light that healed Amy's wound now traveled to her mouth, entering and filling her body.

Sonic, holding her hand and still crying lightly, said, "Please Amy, come back..."

The light continued to flood in as Sonic went on, "All I want is for us to be happy and together... just like you've always wanted..."

Sonic watched as the light seemed to do nothing anymore, and the hedgehog closed his eyes in resignation, but said finally, "I love you Amy..."

At that moment, Amy's face moved so slightly as she took a nearly undetectable breath. However, Sonic opened his eyes as if sensing her life come back, and then, his heart skipped a beat when he felt Amy's hand suddenly squeeze his own.

Sonic's eyes filled with amazement as he said, "Amy!"

Slowly, the last of the light entered into Amy's body, and the pink hedgehog's eyes lifted slowly open, as she looked into the sky. Then beside her, she felt her hand in Sonic's and she looked into his face, his tears falling for joy now.

"Amy, you're...alive!!" Sonic told her.

Amy's eyes filled with happiness and began to tear up as well, as she cried out, "Oh SONIC!!"

The two wrapped each other deep in their arms, holding each other close.

Amy was crying into Sonic shoulder as the blue hedgehog held her closer than ever before.

Then, they pulled back a bit and looked into each others eyes, and they saw that same look of curiosity in their eyes.

Now, though, they knew what it really was, and before either one knew what they were doing, they each closed their eyes and brought their faces together and kissed.

Unlimited turned away, smiling at their newfound love, and looked back into the sky. The others looked at them, happy for the two that had nearly lost each other.

After only a few seconds, Amy and Sonic parted lips and looked into each others' eyes again, smiling and crying.

Sonic then said, "Amy, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you all of this before. Is there any way you can forgive me?"

Amy then, returning to her normal self, said, "Well... I might if you kiss me again..."

Sonic smiled passionately as Amy giggled lightly, and Sonic placed a hand on the back of Amy's head, holding her close to him as she wrapped her arms around Sonic's neck and they kissed deeply, their lips tingling from the love they had wanted to show for the other for so long.

Amy thought to herself, _I chased you for all this time, but I wondered if it would be worth it. Now, nothing in my life could ever beat this moment._

Sonic and Amy then opened their eyes as they continued kissing, gazing into each other's sparkling green eyes, and finally, they parted again and just held each other close.

Amy told Sonic, "No matter how many times you've frustrated me when I tried to get you to love me, this moment is what I've waited for... and it was perfect... I love you Sonic!"

Sonic cuddled close to Amy as he smiled with her, and he told her, "I love you too, Amy..."

The two then sat there, wanting nothing more than to be with one another.

Unlimited smiled, but looked into the sky, thinking, _This might be the happiest moment while I'm here, because I know that the evil in this world will only fight to ruin this happiness._

With the defeat of Mecha Sonic and the reunion of Amy and Sonic, a new love blooms from a tragedy.

Preview for Next Chapter: Other Troubles: Sonic and Amy, wanting to make up for all the lost times since Sonic had disappointed Amy, spend some time together, their hearts unable to contain their built up love. However, will Sonic and Amy's time be without disturbance, or will there be a certain scientist to ruin it? (LIKE EVERY OTHER TIME, BTW!). Find out in the next chapter of Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	4. Other Troubles

Fanfiction and the character Unlimited is property of Josh Kovatch, 2008

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 4: Other Troubles

NOTE: For all you Sonic Amy fans out there, this is going to be the best chapter for it. Enjoy!

The rest of that fateful, twisting day passed on without incident. Unlimited was introduced to the rest of the friends of Sonic.

Although Chuck, the scientist grandfather, was definitely interested in Unlimited's incredible abilities, he did not prod since Unlimited had quite an unbelievable day.

(Just to make it clear, the events of Unlimited's day entail the following: The invasion of all the former opponents in the DBZ universe and the ensuing combat, Unlimited's confrontation with Infinite, his evil twin, Unlimited's permanent departure from the DBZ universe, Unlimited's entrance to Sonic's, and the fights that already happened during this fic. Quite a day, eh?)

Now, Unlimited left to absorb the new world for awhile, leaving Sonic, Amy, and Tails to relay the battle for Ella, Tanaka, and Chuck, as well the others who had seen Mecha Sonic's attack.

It was quite a day for them all, and finally, night fell on the world.

However, the one who felt her life had changed the most was Amy, who was standing out on the balcony overlooking the backyard.

Amy looked into the night, the large moon reflecting off her sparkling green eyes.

Amy thought, _I tried so hard by myself to find ways to make Sonic love me. Every time I tried though, I was let down, and soon, I was thinking there would be no way to hear those words from you, Sonic._

Amy's hands shook a little as she held the balcony railing.

But then, her face lit up and she thought, _But then, like destiny, it happened. I knew when we were fighting together today, we were feeling our love for each other. I didn't do anything this time, and you came to me, and finally told me!_

Amy's eyes shone with radiance as a tear formed in her eye. Her shining face looked up and her heart beat faster, thinking about what Sonic had just told her for the first time today.

Then, to make everything that much better, Amy felt a hand take hers on the railing. She looked to her side and saw, in joy, that it was Sonic.

"Hi, whatcha doing?" Sonic asked casually, trying to keep up his cool image.

Amy, however passionate she wanted to be, didn't grab onto Sonic but instead said, with smiling eyes, "I was thinking about today and enjoying the night."

Sonic's eyes twinkled with an idea, and he asked, "Would you mind if we enjoyed it together?"

Amy's smile widened as she asked excitedly, "Really?"

"Yeah, come on, up here."

Sonic took Amy's hand and led her over towards the door, but instead, he let go of Amy and jumped onto the roof. He turned and offered his hand, saying, "Come on, it's better up here."

Amy beamed and she jumped up and grabbed Sonic's hand, who pulled her up onto the roof with her blue beloved.

As the two hedgehogs settled on the roof together, Sonic wrapped an arm around Amy and brought her close. Amy blushed and could hardly keep herself from jumping to Sonic and kissing him, but she simply put her head against his as they looked into the sky, watching the twinkling stars.

"Isn't this romantic, Sonic? I've dreamed about moments with you like this for so long. I knew, one day, we'd actually have one together," Amy told Sonic, his warmth making her heart melt.

Sonic replied, "It is quite a view tonight. I've wondered what it'd be like to sit here with you, but I've been too nervous to ask you."

Amy then became excited hearing this, and asked, "How long have you been wondering that?"

Sonic's shimmering green eyes combed the sky, and he said, "For a long time. I've been just too nervous about what the others would think, and about what would happen between us."

"Is that the truth, Sonic?" Amy asked, her voice filling with love for what he was telling her at long last.

Sonic turned and looked into her eyes, saying, "Why wouldn't it be?"

Amy then became a little fretful, saying, "Well, it's just that, there were times when you said things to me that gave me hope, but then you disappointed me."

Sonic then took Amy's hands in his own and he said, "I promise. This time, I couldn't lie to you. I knew that, after seeing you almost leave me forever..."

Sonic paused, dropping his eyes. Amy placed both of her hands onto one of Sonic's and he continued, "I knew how much I had disappointed you before."

Then, Sonic looked into Amy's eyes again, who smiled as Sonic did, and he said, "Now, I want to make it up to you. I want to make you happy. But more importantly, I want to love you."

Amy's eyes were now tearing up again, and she said, "Oh, Sonic, I knew you felt this way about me!"

Sonic held Amy's hands with his then, and the two smiling hedgehogs brought their faces close and kissed. They let their lips express their love, their hearts filling with love after each second.

Finally, they moved back and gazed into each other's eyes, and finally, Amy broke down and cried, "Oh Sonic!!"

She couldn't keep herself from wrapping around him, hugging him warmly, and saying, "I love you so much, Sonic! I love you!"

Sonic didn't fight it but was a little surprised at first, but he smiled and hugged her, holding her gently as Amy looked past him at the roof, wondering how she could ever let go of him.

But finally, Amy let her arms slide down but just as her face came back in front of Sonic's, she felt his lips touch hers again, and before she hardly let go of him, she put her hands on his face as he pulled her closer.

They kissed for what seemed like a blissful eternity, and again, they let themselves part their loving lips and gaze into each other's eyes again.

They cuddled there together in loving silence as they looked up into the sky again, and after a little while, Sonic finally said, "It's pretty late. I think we should get some sleep."

Amy's eyes then twinkled with her own idea, and she said, "Sonic, can you do something for me tonight?"

"What is it?" Sonic asked, willing to do anything for the girl, and she replied, "Do you think that... you could sleep with me tonight?"

Sonic then began to panic as he said, stammering, "W-What? You mean, like... Uh..."

Amy, at that moment, blushed noticeably, and said, "Oh, wait, not like that!"

Sonic and Amy then stopped all at once and laughed, and Sonic said, scratching his head, "So, you don't want to-"

Amy quickly interrupted, "No, not that... I just meant, will you sleep in my bed with me tonight?"

Sonic's eyes softened and he said, "Sure."

"Oh, thank you, Sonic!" Amy said in glee.

They got up from the roof and went to Amy's room. Once they entered, Sonic moved forward quickly and opened the sheets for Amy and let her get in first, him getting in next to her.

Amy turned to Sonic, who was settling beside her, looking into his eyes as he into hers.

"Comfy, Sonic?" Amy asked, knowing that it was a little awkward for them.

"Yeah. I don't feel strange here with you," Sonic told her.

Amy and Sonic then smiled and kissed one more time, then separated and gazed into each others's eyes one more time before falling asleep in each others' arms.

The two slept more soundly than any other night. Their presence with each other warmed them and they slept deeply.

They also dreamt deeply.

Amy found herself running after Sonic, who was running away with a nervous face on. Amy called out, "Sonic, you're so wonderful! Please, be mine!"

Sonic didn't say anything but kept running, afraid of her apparently.

"Why won't you slow down, Sonic?" Amy called, beginning to become sad.

Amy tried to keep up as best as possible, but suddenly, a rock in the middle of the path jutted up and tripped her.

Amy fell forward and cried out, but suddenly, before Amy fell down, she felt herself caught.

She looked up and saw Sonic smiling, and he said, "I'm sorry I did that. I just got nervous. Can you forgive me Amy?"

Amy's eyes filled with delight and she wrapped her arms around him, saying, "Of course! I can't stay mad at someone who cares so much for me."

Then, Sonic told her, "Amy, I have something to tell you."

Amy looked into his eyes, and he smiled and said, "I love you."

Amy's face, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, shone with joy, as she told him, nearly speechless, "I love you too!"

Immediately, they kissed, and Amy's face blushed from the sudden rush, but she couldn't think of a more wonderful thing than to love Sonic as he loved her.

As for the real Sonic...

Sonic was running through a wide open field, without a care in the world. As he turned another direction, he suddenly spotted Amy, who was walking away from him.

He quickly ran up beside her and said, "Hey, Amy."

However, when she didn't stop or even say anything, his face became confused and worried.

"Amy, it's me Sonic," he told her as he walked beside her.

Now, she said, "I know it is."

Amy wasn't happy or sad, just indifferent to Sonic.

He said worriedly, "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Not really. I've decided that you really don't want to be close to me, so I'm moving on," Amy told him.

Sonic's body turned cold, and he said, "Wait, Amy..."

"Don't worry Sonic. I know you didn't want to be more than friends. That's why I'm moving on," Amy told him flat out.

Just then, though, Sonic got in front of Amy, making her open her eyes for the first time, and he said, "That's not true! Amy, I've been scared to tell you this, but... I do want to be more than friends."

Amy gave a small smile and asked, "Why Sonic?"

Sonic gazed deeply into her eyes and drew closer, and then finally hugged her, blurting, "I love you Amy! I really do! I don't want you to stop trying!"

Sonic felt Amy hug him warmly, and she said in his ear, "I really got you with that one."

Sonic backed up and looked into her smiling, giggling face, and he smiled too. Then, they pulled close together and kissed.

Morning came, and the two hedgehogs were bathed in sunlight as they continued to sleep with each other in their arms, snuggled together.

Sonic was the first to wake up, and as he did, he remembered his favor to Amy last night, and he smiled at the peaceful hedgehog lying in his arms, her face nestled in his chest.

He sat up slightly, hoping not to rudely awaken her, and he softly caressed her face.

_Why did I run from you? How could I have been nervous about loving you? I guess I'll never know, but what I do know... I won't give you up, Amy,_ Sonic thought to himself.

Then, Amy stirred at Sonic's gentle, loving touch and she slowly opened her eyes, looking underneath Sonic. Then, she moved her head up and looked at Sonic's face, smiling, and she said, "It wasn't a dream. You _are_ still here."

Sonic laughed softly about this, and asked, "Did you sleep good?"

Amy sat up with him and said, "Better than I ever had. I felt so safe and warm next to you."

Sonic smiled warmly, and then said, "You know... Amy... maybe if you would like... do you wanna... uh, well... go out today, er, with me?"

Amy's eyes then flickered with radiance again and she asked, "Are you asking me out, Sonic?"

Sonic nervously nodded, and Amy cried, "Yes, I'd love to!"

Sonic seemed confident again, and he got out of bed, saying, "Great! I'm gonna go for a run! Is 12:00 good?"

Amy looked at the clock and saw, with a "WOW!" that it was already 10:30, and she told him, "Yes!"

Sonic smiled and held out his arms to her. She nearly began to cry again at how affectionate Sonic was being with her, and she could barely keep herself from tackling Sonic, but she did jump from the bed into Sonic's arms.

"Whoa!" Sonic said, but steadied out after catching Amy deep in his arms.

"Oh! Sorry..." Amy said, blushing slightly.

Sonic smiled to make her feel better, and they then kissed each other for only a moment, and then cuddled. Sonic then let go and said, "See ya at 12!"

Sonic burst out the door and was out of the house in seconds, leaving Amy to fall to her knees in near-bliss, saying to herself, "I can't believe this is really happening. But I knew you had it in you, Sonic! I knew you would love me eventually! But I never realized how wonderful it'd all be!"

Amy's eye leaked one tear, and she said, "And now we're dating!!"

Amy jumped into the air and cheered out loud, making a couple people in the house wonder what Amy was doing.

"Maybe I should calm down..." Amy told herself, blushing again.

As she had her moment, Sonic blasted out of the house, passing by Cream and Cheese who were watching their kids show.

At that moment, however, the TV suddenly switched screens and said, "We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this update."

Cream and Cheese looked confused at the TV as Chris walked in, and said, "What's going on?"

"Hello, I'm Scarlet Garcia. I'm standing here at Green Fields, which appears to be the site of a fierce disaster," the reporter said.

"Green Fields? But isn't that where Sonic and the others fought that Unlimited guy?" Chris asked out loud.

"Scientists reported yesterday that incredible seismic readings confirmed earthquake activity, but were unable to determine the reason for the increased energy levels detected here yesterday."

Scarlet put a finger to her earpiece, and said, "This just in. We have been given a homemade tape of what was happening here. Here's the footage."

Then, on the TV, a field filled with a large dust column was shown, and near it, the gold forms of the Sonic team were shown.

Scarlet Garcia, from outside the video, said, "Oh, my! It appears it was a battle between Sonic and friends against... something!"

Then, it was at that moment that the column was shredded and, for an instant, Unlimited, in his black aura, was shown, before the camera went out.

Scarlet came back on and said, "I'm being informed that the person who caught this footage describes the opponent as a teenager, wearing all black and surrounded by a strange black aura."

Cream, Cheese, and Chris all looked on, knowing who that person was.

Meanwhile, in the city, people watched from the window of a TV store, while behind them, on the top of a neighboring building, a teen dressed in all black stood and watched them, smirking at their lack of knowledge.

Then, one girl turned and looked around, and saw Unlimited standing on the building.

She became frightened and turned to her mother and said, "Mommy! There he is!"

The mother looked at her daughter, and turned to the building, but saw that no one was there.

"It must be hot today. You're seeing things," The mother told her child.

"But I saw him! I did!" The girl insisted.

Meanwhile, far up in the sky, Unlimited looked down, knowing that he could easily tell them all who he was, but he'd save that for another day.

_I'll wait for a moment to really show them who I am..._

Then, Unlimited put two fingers in front of his head and suddenly disappeared.

Meanwhile, out in the desert near the city, Sonic ran full speed around the sands.

"I might love Amy, but I still love running! And I'm not giving that up either!" Sonic said out loud.

Sonic bolted towards a hill, but suddenly stopped when he saw a figure materialize on top of it.

Sonic looked up at him and saw that it was Unlimited.

"Unlimited!" Sonic said, smiling at the powerful friend.

Unlimited smirked down at him as he descended from the hill, as Sonic asked, "Whatcha been doing?"

Unlimited told the hedgehog, "I've been watching these humans get excited over my presence here. It's interesting to see them like this."

"Yeah, I know. They were doing the same when we first came here," Sonic told him.

Unlimited nodded, and then said, "How goes the new relationship?"

Sonic scratched the back of his head and said, "Well, we're happy together, and I've-"

"Asked her out," Unlimited finished.

"Yeeeah. You weren't spying on us, were you?" Sonic asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow.

Unlimited, however, didn't bat an eye, and said, "I can feel the presence of love in people. I'd like to give you some advice."

"About what?" Sonic asked the teen.

Unlimited looked at him solemnly and said, "Don't be afraid around Amy. Remember... She's wanted to be with you very much, so she wouldn't be reluctant of anything you ask her."

Sonic looked confused and said, "Are you sure?"

Unlimited nodded and said, "Be calm with her. If you're close to her, she will give you her love all the more, and you know, deep in your heart, you want that."

Sonic smiled and said, "I get ya. Thanks for the help."

As Sonic prepared to run, Unlimited said, "By the way... Be cool on your date."

Sonic scratched his face and said, "Yeah, I will."

Unlimited smirked one more time before suddenly blasting off at full speed himself, off into the sky.

Sonic watched after him, and then began to run in his own direction.

An hour and a half passed.

12:00 rolled by, and Amy stood outside, her hands linked together as she stood, faithfully waiting for Sonic.

"I really hope you don't let me down, Sonic. I don't know what I'd do then," Amy said aloud.

"Well, then I guess it was a good idea to be on time," a voice said from around the house.

Amy's eyes moved quickly to see Sonic walk from around the bushes and smile at her.

Amy's eyes filled with joy again, as she rushed to him and embraced him, Sonic returning it warmly, and she said, "You were actually on time for me?"

Sonic winked and said, "You got it!"

Amy shone brightly again, and Sonic, remembering Unlimited's advice, calmly said, "So, where do you wanna go?"

Amy then put a hand to her mouth and asked herself, "What's fun? Hmm..."

Sonic then became adventurous, and said, "How about we go get an ice cream?"

Amy smiled up at him and said, "That sounds great! And maybe, we could go sit by the beach after?"

Sonic trembled a little at the thought of water, but said, "Sure, let's go!"

So Amy and Sonic set off for the city, holding hands, on their first REAL date.

Even though they had some uncomfortable stares from people on the street, one for being in public and one for holding hands, the two hedgehogs reached an ice cream shop pretty easily, and were sitting outside, unfortunately still being gawked at by bystanders.

Amy's eye was twitching for the first minute they were there, and Sonic only averted his eyes.

Finally, when someone said, "Hi Sonic!", Amy summoned her hammer to her and held it up without facing the crowd.

She heard them all leave in fright and she smiled to herself. Sonic looked back at Amy and smiled saying, "Nice work."

Amy closed her eyes in modesty and said, "Nothing to it."

The people didn't come back to bother them anymore, and the other people around made sure to avoid looking at the two hedgehogs.

Sonic got up and came back with two ice cream cones, sitting down next to Amy and giving her one.

"Thank you, Sonic!" Amy exclaimed, overreacting like she had been given a wedding ring.

Sonic just smiled warmly to her and put an arm around her.

After they finished their ice cream, Amy then said to Sonic, "This is great! Just you and me, enjoying ourselves, having a great time! Isn't it great?"

Sonic looked at her, saying with a twinkle of passion in his eyes, "You know, it really is. I never thought how it could be fun, but now I know. Plus, I'm happy to be with you."

Amy's eyes glistened and she said, "I am too."

The two hedgehogs leaned forward to kiss, but suddenly, a loud crash behind them woke them up.

The two looked in shock around and saw robots landing in the street behind them.

Sonic became serious and Amy became angry again, getting up and saying, "Who DARES to interrupt our date?"

Sonic got up and looked into the sky, and sure enough, he heard the same gloating, conceited voice say, "Sorry to break up your kissy time, but I'm here to settle the score, Sonic!"

They looked up as several more robots landed as a pod carrying a fat, egg-shaped man hovered down in front of the two hedgehogs.

"Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed.

"That's right, Sonic, and this time, I recommend you surrender right now!" Eggman hollowly threatened.

"You got to be kidding me..." Sonic said, smiling.

Then from beside him, Amy summoned her hammer again and yelled, "We're going make it hurt for ruining our time together."

"Oh, but I don't think you want to do that, because you see, I have someone here to see you," Eggman told them maniacally.

Then, from the sky again, another robot hovered down and floated next to Eggman, and in its claws were Cream and Cheese!

"Cream! Cheese!" Sonic yelled, and Amy looked up nervously.

"And don't think to move at all! If you move from that position, this robot will detect it and immediately make some swiss Cream Cheese!" Eggman told them.

"WHAT?!" Sonic yelled.

Amy looked in vain at some way to get Cream and Cheese out from the robot, who indeed had large machine guns sticking out from its body.

"Now that you know the stakes, Sonic, decide. Your life, or hers?" Eggman grimly announced.

Around the ground near Sonic and Amy, the robots all pointed guns at the two hedgehogs.

Amy looked in terror around and said, "Sonic... I don't know what to do..."

Sonic's eyes looked up in hopelessness at Cream and Cheese, knowing that it was too far away to reach in time before it detected him being gone, and said, tears beginning to form in his eyes, "I'm sorry, Amy... There's no way out..."

Amy's own eyes began to fill as she embraced Sonic closely and said, "Sonic... I'm scared..."

Sonic looked down, the tears falling from his eyes as he looked into Amy's crying eyes, and he said, "Don't worry, Amy... We'll be together now... No matter what, I love you..."

Amy cried as well and said, her voice breaking, "I love you too, Sonic..."

The two then held each other close as Eggman said, "I can't believe it! I did it! I actually beat Sonic! WOOOOHOOHOO!!"

The scientist whooped as Cream yelled out, "Sonic! Amy!"

The two held each other, Sonic looking at Amy with pain, knowing that he couldn't save both Amy and Cream and Cheese.

"I'm sorry, Amy... I... let you down again..." Sonic told her.

"It's okay, Sonic," Amy told him softly, her eyes sad and fearful, "At least this time, we can go together and be with each other forever..."

Eggman then looked down and said, "Alright, robots ready!"

Amy and Sonic closed their eyes tight and held each other close, their faces close together, as Cream yelled, "SONIC! AMY!"

Then, from far away, on top of a mountain, a pair of blue eyes opened.

"FI-"

At that moment, Cream and Cheese disappeared from the clutches of the robot.

Eggman looked to the side from the corner of his eye and said, "WHAT?!"

Sonic and Amy looked up quickly as Eggman said, "What happened?"

"I did, Eggman."

The scientist looked up into the sky and saw, in shock, that Cream and Cheese were being held by a floating... human?

"W-Who... are you?" Eggman panickedly stuttered.

"I am Unlimited," the teen said.

Unlimited descended to the ground and settled down next to Sonic and Amy, putting down Cream and Cheese.

"Thank you!" The rabbit said, as Cheese yiped its thanks too.

Sonic then looked to Unlimited as he turned around and said, "Way to go... We owe you a lot!"

Sonic's voice and his face were full of sincerity, and Amy said, "I don't know how we can thank you for getting us out of that one..."

Unlimited then smirked, closing his eyes, and said, "Please, it's what I do..."

Then, from above again, Eggman said, "Alright! That's it! My plan might be out the window, but I'm still gonna trash all of you! Robots! FI-"

Once again, just as Eggman began to give the command, Unlimited's eyes opened, and as Eggman said, "-RE!!", he was greeted with total silence.

He looked down at his robots, and at the one beside him, and he asked out loud, "What are they doing?!"

Then, all of them fell into pieces, seemingly cut up by an extremely sharp blade.

"WHAT?! WHO DID THAT?!" Eggman exclaimed in anger.

Unlimited then chuckled as he reappeared in front of Eggman, holding a sword, and saying, "Do you like my work?"

Eggman turned in horror and anger to the teen and opened his mouth to yell when he stopped dead. Now, he simply looked curiously at Unlimited, who was floating before him.

Eggman began to move above Unlimited and looked at the air above the teen, moving his hand through it. Then, he circled around the back of Unlimited and looked at his back, moving his hand close to it.

Down on the ground, the four looked up in confusion, wondering what Eggman was doing.

The scientist then moved down to Unlimited's boots and looked closely at them, then waved his hands underneath Unlimited.

Finally, Eggman floated back in front of Unlimited, and, with his mustache sticking up, yelled, "HOW ARE YOU FLOATING THERE?!"

Unlimited smirked, amused, and answered, "The same way that this could happen."

Then, Unlimited took his sword and plunged it into Eggman's pod, leaving it there as he removed his hand.

Eggman turned ghost white as Unlimited did this, but was even more astounded, as the others on the ground were, when Unlimited extended his hand to the sword, which suddenly glowed bright green and traveled to Unlimited's hand as energy.

Unlimited then smirked one more time at Eggman, and said, "Looking forward to freaking you out again..."

Then, the green energy from Unlimited's hand shot forward and blasted Eggman's pod. Eggman flew up into the sky, yelling as he flew away in terror.

Unlimited watched him go, and then turned and descended back to the ground where the others were.

"That was incredible! Where did you get the sword from?" Amy asked, so intrigued by Unlimited's vast powers.

"Yeah, and how did you make it into energy?" Sonic chimed in.

Unlimited looked to them and said, "It's all the work of my energy."

Unlimited raised his hand into the air and snatched through it, pulling a sword out of nowhere.

"OH! Like my hammer!" Amy exclaimed.

Unlimited nodded, and then threw the blade into the ground behind him, and drew his hand forward. The sword glowed green again and became energy, which Unlimited absorbed into his body.

"You're just full of tricks, huh?" Sonic asked.

Unlimited chuckled, Sonic and Amy both said, "Thank you so much!"

"Like I said. I'll be there to help you, even if you don't know it."

Unlimited looked to Cream and Cheese, and then looked back to the two hedgehogs and said, "Why don't you two go finish your date? I'll take these two home."

Sonic said, "Thanks! Let's go Amy!"

Amy nodded, overjoyed again to be able to actually FINISH a date, another first (Sonic X ticked me off about this...).

Unlimited took the two young ones, who were both very happy, as Sonic suddenly picked up Amy, to her delight, and started running them towards the beach.

Unlimited disappeared and reappeared at Chris's house, who came out as Unlimited got there, and said, "Hey, you gotta see the TV!"

Unlimited, Cream and Cheese walked in and looked at the TV, on which another reporter was saying, "Just moments ago, a fight broke out here, apparently between the notorious Dr. Eggman and Sonic the Hedgehog. However, this video footage that we have just received shows that there was another fighter, whom was just barely identified by the name Unlimited. Here's the footage."

Unlimited watched, his eyes pleased as he watched himself save Cream and Cheese and scare Eggman out of his wit. The footage didn't continue but went back to the reporter.

"It was thanks to Sonic and friend, whom was identified as Amy, that this fighter was identified, had it not been for the two having been on a date just moments before the fight."

More footage then played on the screen of Sonic and Amy close together at the table, showing them about to kiss when Eggman appeared.

"It seems that even Sonic has a significant other in his life, and this reporter wishes him happiness."

Cream and Cheese "awww" at the footage, as Unlimited and said, "He took my advice."

Chris and the others looked up at him wondering what advice he had given when all of a sudden, a high-pitched voice said, "HELLO! I've got a special message!!"

All but Unlimited turned around to see Bokun fly in, his usual mocking grin on, but the robot stopped dead, as Unlimited turned slowly to him.

"AHHH! It's you! That kid who beat Eggman in no time!" Bokun stammered.

Unlimited smirked as the robot spat out, "Uhh, since Sonic isn't here, uh, I'll just, you know, leave..."

Bokun bolted out the door that he had come in, scared out of this mind.

Unlimited watched him go and he said, "It's unfortunate that I can be intimidating. But evil would do well to steer clear of me."

Unlimited said goodbye to the others, saying he was going to go out again, and Unlimited disappeared once again.

Now, let's get back to what this chapter's been about...

Sonic and Amy approached the beach, the sun still high in the sky, and Amy said, "Wow! Look at the ocean! Isn't it beautiful?"

Sonic looked up from Amy, and saw the crystal blue ocean spread out before him, and he said, "It sure is."

Sonic hit the sand and stopped, letting down Amy, of course wary of the water. Then, Amy said, "Don't worry about the water Sonic. We don't have to go in. Besides, I don't have my swimsuit."

Sonic scratched his head and said, "Give me a break, I just don't like water..."

Amy giggled and said, "I know, I just like to tease you."

Sonic's eyes then twinkled again, and he said, "Well, for that, now you gotta catch me if you wanna sit with me!"

Amy turned as Sonic began running down the empty beach at normal speed.

"I'll never stop until I catch you, Sonic!" Amy yelled playfully, running after him.

Sonic kept far ahead of Amy to begin with, but when he turned around once, he saw her almost snag him.

"Whoa!" Sonic exclaimed, but quickly dodged her grab as he turned direction and began to run faster.

"You can't leave me behind!" Amy yelled to him as she ran as fast as she could again.

Sonic was running pretty fast, but Amy, to her surprise, felt her legs carrying her faster than ever.

Sonic turned and saw Amy gaining on him, and turned a corner again as she got close. However, she was hot on his tail, and Sonic began running towards the shore.

Amy looked ahead and saw her love just in front of her.

"I've got you!!" Amy cried out, and this time, to Sonic sudden surprise, when she leaped forward to grab Sonic, she was just able to grab his legs.

"AHH!" Sonic cried out as he fell, quickly turning in time to fall on his rear rather than face.

Amy crawled up onto his chest and smiled brightly into his face, saying, "Now will you sit with me?"

Sonic panted, saying, "Wow... How did you get me? I was almost going full speed!"

Amy lifted off of Sonic and sat on the beach, the two of them now very close to the shoreline, and as she looked out to the shining ocean, she said, "I know now that, if it's for you, I'll do things I never could do!"

Sonic sat up and looked at her, smiling at the pink hedgehog who was so strongly in love with him, as he was with her.

Amy was gazing out at the ocean when she turned to Sonic, only to see him extending a hand to her.

Amy's eyes filled with joy as she smiled wider, and she took Sonic's hand, who pulled her closer to him and put an arm around her.

"This moment is so wonderful. I once dreamt about this kind of time. It felt so romantic, but to be really having it... with you..." Amy was saying, but stopped.

Sonic looked at her, and saw her eyes glisten and her smile never falter, and he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Amy blushed and sighed deeply, but became speechless when she felt Sonic teasingly draw his hand up her arm and then kiss her neck.

"Sonic... what..." Amy began, but stopped when Sonic moved behind Amy and wrapped an arm around her stomach, holding her hand with the other, as he leaned forward over her shoulder and kissed her other cheek.

As Sonic began to kiss her neck more, gliding his hand up her arm and up to her face, she crooned, "Ohh, Sonic..."

Sonic then took both of his hands and caressed her face, going down her neck and arms until he was holding her hands as she continued to moan softly.

Then, Sonic playfully bit the tip of her ear, then licked it for an second, and Amy took in a breath, saying, "Sonic, are you..."

But then, Sonic turned Amy to him and said, with a cautious tone in his voice, "You don't _want_ to go further than this, do you?"

Amy smiled and shook her head, saying, "Not yet. I love what you're doing right now. I love it when you do this with me."

Sonic smiled passionately to her, and drew her into an embrace, kissing her neck again, but now, Amy started herself, moving her hand up Sonic's chest as he moved up her neck kissing, reaching her cheek where he stopped.

Then, Amy took over and began to kiss Sonic's face, at which he shied away a little but began to enjoy it. Kissing him on his cheek, she moved down finally to his lips and they both kissed each other very softly.

Then, they stopped and looked into each other's emerald green eyes, taking each other's hands and then drawing close to kiss again.

This time, they danced with their lips, kissing for a longer time. Amy opened her eyes a little, surprised to see Sonic doing the same. They gazed deeply, their kiss gentle and loving. After a few moments of kissing in silence, they stopped, and held each other, smiling blissfully.

Amy then said, "This is all so beautiful. I never thought you'd be this affectionate to me so quickly."

Amy's eyes displayed her real feelings as she let go of two slender tears, at which Sonic delicately brushed them away, saying, "Don't you remember? I do all things quickly."

Amy smiled, but then began to giggle, and Sonic realized this and corrected, "But I haven't done everything yet!"

Amy smiled radiantly into his eyes again, and he smiled back.

Finally, she said, "Sonic, I do want to do one thing before this perfect day ends."

Sonic asked, "What?"

Amy leaned forward, placing her hands on Sonic's face, and began to kiss him deeply, and, moving her face and breathing fast she said, "Please... kiss me... like we're... you know..."

Sonic instantly understood, but then became a different person when he held Amy, one hand on the back of her head and the other on her lower back.

Amy moaned in passion as they came closer in their kiss, their tongues meeting for the first time. Amy felt Sonic do this and began to swirl her tongue with his, beginning to feel as if she was filling with helium, and she dropped her hands to their laps.

Sonic felt this and leaned them softly onto the sand, kissing her more and more passionately, moving his tongue with hers, faster and closer.

Amy opened her eyes, misted with love, and locked eyes with Sonic, who twirled his tongue around Amy's several times more before finally coming out of the trance he was in.

They sat back up and she looked into Sonic's eyes, her smile bright and her eyes teary, and Sonic looked back with a warm smile on his face and said, "I love you, Amy!"

Amy's tears fell again as she said, her words nearly smothered by her feelings, "I love you so much, Sonic!"

The two held each other close again and looked at the crystal ocean, now seeming a little more beautiful now that it had witnessed such a beautiful expression of love.

Meanwhile, floating in the middle of the ocean itself, Unlimited watched from afar, not seeing but feeling Sonic's and Amy's love pulse powerfully. He smiled, but that smile quickly faded away when he heard another high pitched laugh from behind.

The same robot Bokun flew up to Unlimited saying, "This time, I have a special message from Dr. Eggman just for you!"

Unlimited turned to the robot as it pulled out a small TV, on which Eggman appeared and began to say to Unlimited, "Listen, kid. I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I highly advise you to stay out of Sonic's and my fights. If you do not heed my warning, I will be forced to use MASSIVE RETALIATION!"

The message ended, and Bokun said, "By the way, the doctor sent a special gift just for you!"

Bokun tossed the TV at Unlimited, but even though he didn't try to catch it, it exploded and caught him in it.

Bokun laughed mockingly at the smoke, but when it cleared, he stopped laughing and instantly became scared.

Unlimited floated there, completely unharmed, and he stared up at Bokun.

Then, he said, "Give Dr. Eggman this message..."

Unlimited then let go of all five bracelets at the same time and blasted right to his black aura, saying after Bokun stopped freaking out, "Bring it on!"

Bokun left without another word, terrified, and Unlimited floated there in the ocean, snapping his fingers, and saying, "No one understands the level of power I have!!"

Suddenly, Unlimited yelled and thrust his entire body out. His black energy flared unbelievably, extending miles into the air as a gigantic column, his energy not starting a tidal wave only by a special shield he put over the surface of the water.

His energy could be seen anywhere in space, and he thought to himself, _Let it be known, Eggman. I can't be beaten by evil._

Could Unlimited's challenge to Eggman bring about a battle of epic proportions?

Preview for next chapter: In the Coming Days: Unlimited and the Sonic team rest for awhile, Sonic and Amy enjoying their love together, and the rest just hanging out. However, a series of ultimatums causes some major alarm. Who sends them? And what will the powers of good do? Find out in the next installment of Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	5. In the Coming Days

Fanfiction and the character Unlimited is property of Josh Kovatch, 2008

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 5: In the Coming Days

The next few days went by without a single problem. Since the near disasterous battle against Eggman, no one had heard from him, which was all the better.

Unlimited was usually gone, moving across the world and taking in the scenery of the realm he had come to. He watched over his new friends and allies, knowing that they, no matter how powerful they were, could need his help again.

In the meantime, though, he watched from afar, and the Sonic team was happy to be without incident for awhile.

Sonic and Amy were especially happy, since they now were able to spend more time together. Since their loving time at the beach, they knew that they should control themselves or else they'd get carried away, wink wink.

But that didn't bother them, and although they didn't sleep together again, they were happy simply to be with each other. Sonic usually had Amy come up on the roof with him and just lie there next to him, the two of them holding hands and napping or just looking into each others' eyes.

The two were glad to have time alone, while the rest of the team was happy to get some relaxation in. Tails and the scientist Chuck would work on the X-Tornado or, if they were able to, try to learn some things from Unlimited, since he was able to easily break long-established "laws" of physics and such.

The rest were content that everything was going good. That is, except for a couple of beings in the world.

It began one day, when the sun was highest in the sky.

Unlimited was hovering high in the sky over Station Square, looking over the earth, when all of a sudden, he felt a disturbance from below. He looked down and saw that everyone was shocked at a massive screen that had appeared in midair over the city.

On it, to Unlimited's "surprise", was Eggman.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Amy and Sonic were laying on the roof together, looking into the sky.

"Sonic, do you think that we could be together like this forever?" Amy asked.

Sonic looked at her, saying, "As long as we can be is good for me, and I'll do everything I can to make that as long as possible."

Amy and Sonic sat up together, gazing into each others' eyes again and smiling brightly, but just as they were about to lean forward to kiss, they heard a booming voice come from the city and say, "Attention, people of Station Square."

The two broke away their eyes and looked towards the city in sudden surprise, and Sonic said, "That's Eggman!"

Amy said, frustrated, "What?! Again?!"

The booming screen in the city continued, "It is my sad duty to inform you that your city is now no longer secure, as you will see by this field of missiles behind me."

Eggman moved from the screen and showed a massive arsenal of missiles to the citizens of the city, at which they began to panic.

Eggman continued, "However, this is only the final unfortunate result of your lives if you are unable to do something for me."

The citizens of the city looked back up at the maniacal doctor, as Sonic and Amy stood on the roof as the other Sonic team members came outside and looked towards the booming voice.

"All I ask is that you fine people of Station Square kindly bring me Sonic and his friends to Great Plains (Again, made up name) so that I may destr- I MEAN, negotiate with them about peace."

"Peace? Please," Sonic said.

Finally, the face on the screen said, "In the coming days, I will be watching over your progress of how you manage to coax that hedgehog out to me. You have one week to oblige, or your city's ashes will be the foundation of the new Eggman empire. Good day."

Eggman finished and then, the screen moved into the air above the city to where Sonic and his friends could see it.

"Oh, and Sonic, let me show you what you'll be up against so there's no unfair ambush."

Then, Eggman moved to another side of himself and showed a massive army of robots, what looked like thousands of them.

"Whoa! He's not fooling around!" Sonic said, surprised at the force Eggman was bringing out.

Tails exclaimed from below, "Even with all of us, we can't take on that many robots."

"Sonic! You guys, look!" Chris yelled from the ground, looking towards the city.

The team looked out to the city as well and saw, in sudden fear, that almost the entire city's citizens were marching towards Chris's house.

"But we can't fight that many robots at once!" Amy said, grabbing ahold of Sonic's arm, "How will we make them listen?"

There wasn't enough time for an answer as the citizens reached the gate before the house, yelling, "Sonic! You gotta get out there!" "Stop wasting time!"

Sonic looked on nervously as the crowd became more and more rowdy.

"Sonic," Amy said, fearfully, and Sonic put an arm around her waist.

The others looked on in sheer worry, and even though the butler Tanaka was standing like a sentinel trying to protect Chris and the others from the people, they all knew this would get ugly.

Then, just as cries went up to bust down the gate, a sudden, even louder and more powerful voice yelled from above, "ENOUGH!!"

All eyes flew skyward as they looked for the voice, and then, they saw a black mass hurtling towards the ground, and seemed like it was going to crash right in between Sonic and the crowd when it suddenly stopped and floated before the crowd, who realized that it was... a teenager dressed in all black, surrounded by a black aura.

Indeed, Unlimited stood between the two sides now, his blue eyes staring down the thousands of people standing before him.

"There is no need for any of this. Sonic and his friends, including myself, will face Eggman," Unlimited told him.

Sonic, from the roof, said, "Oh yeah! With Unlimited on our side, we could easily win!"

Then, the citizens cried out, "Well, tell that Eggman!"

Unlimited smirked at the request and rose into the sky, but first floated over to the roof and looked at Sonic, saying, "You wouldn't run from a fight anyway, would you?"

Sonic smirked himself, and Unlimited nodded, and continued rising into the sky, stopping as he was level with the Eggman screen.

"Eh, what is that thing?" Eggman asked out loud when he saw Unlimited floating out in the distance. When he got his mug close to the screen, he suddenly burst, "WHY! It's YOU! That runt that foiled my best plan ever!"

Unlimited's voice then multiplied hundreds of times, and he boomed back at Eggman, "Yes, and I hope you're prepared to lose once again. Sonic, his friends, and myself, accept your challenge."

Eggman said, nervously, "Well, good, because, this time... I'm going to definitely win!!"

However, it from another loud, booming voice, that the people from the city, as well as the Sonic team, heard, "Hahaha... Eggman, you always were foolish..."

Eggman looked around and said, "What? That voice... It couldn't be..."

But Sonic knew it first, and he said, "NO! It's-"

And before he could utter another word, another massive screen appeared before the people and Sonic, above Eggman's and showed the terrifying form of Mecha Sonic!

"Mecha Sonic!" Amy cried out, and the rest of the city and the Sonic team gasped at what they saw.

The robot on the screen laughed and said, "Hello, Sonic. It's good to see that you're doing alright, because that'll make it even better when I destroy you and all that you love!"

Sonic growled at the screen, which continued to laugh, saying, "And you, that Unlimited boy... you might have had the best of me the other day, but now..."

Mecha Sonic's screen zoomed out to show the entire robot, who was floating among... ALL OF THE CHAOS EMERALDS?!

"The Chaos Emeralds!!" Tails yelled from below. Most of the people watching this gasped in horror to see such a destructive-looking being having those gems.

The robot laughed again and said, "Eggman, I'm not saying I'm on your side, but your robots will come in handy! Unlimited, you know you will have no choice but to fight me alone while your friends fight in vain against Eggman! Face it! You're FINISHED!!"

Unlimited's face turned serious, as Sonic and the others realized that Mecha Sonic was telling the truth. Without Unlimited, they were back to the first problem, and they knew that they couldn't beat all of Eggman's robots by themselves.

"You seem to be forgetting-" A female voice suddenly said from the air.

"-that Sonic's other allies-" Another confident guy's voice said.

"-will be fighting alongside of him." One final, deep voice finished.

The citizens, the Sonic team, Eggman, and Mecha Sonic once again all looked around at the mystery voices, and they turned to look in another direction. Then, from the side of the house, 3 more beings appeared, and stood near the Sonic team already there.

Sonic and the others all looked and saw, with relief and happiness, that Knuckles, Shadow, and even Rouge had come to their aid.

"Hey! You guys made it!" Sonic called down.

Shadow didn't turn, but Knuckles and Rouge gave a small wave, and then Rouge turned back towards Eggman and said, with Shadow projecting her voice, "Sorry, Eggy, but if I have to choose a side, I go on the one that I know will win."

Eggman's eyebrows furrowed, and Mecha Sonic from above said, "This makes no difference! I will still be victorious and enslave this planet for myself!"

Knuckles yelled out, thanks to Shadow, "Yeah right! You're totally outmatched!"

"There's no way we can lose now! With all of us here, we'll win easily!" Sonic yelled out from the roof.

From below, the city people cheered loudly for them, as Sonic and his friends all stood proudly, ready to take on Eggman. Meanwhile, Unlimited up in the sky said, "As I said before, we accept your challenge."

But just then, over all the cheering, one final, menacing laugh came once again from the sky, but this time, it seemed as if it came from everywhere, enveloping everyone in its ominous nature.

Unlimited looked up and saw, as the rest looked up in horror, that the sky was turning red! A horrible force was looming over them all, and from the ground, many of the city people cried out, "What's going on?!" "What's that?!"

Sonic and his friends looked up, Sonic saying, "Who's doing that?!"

Eggman looked at it along with Mecha Sonic and both of them seemed just as suddenly afraid of it.

But it was Unlimited, floating above them all, whose teeth were gritted and his eyes widening with anger and shock, as he glared into the sky, who knew what it was.

"No..." Unlimited said low, rage filling his voice.

Suddenly, at that moment, the ground was stamped with an infinity symbol and Unlimited, from out of nowhere, burst suddenly into his black aura, which thrashed around him at that moment in the face of the evil sign from the sky.

_I was certain I had defeated you once and for all, _Unlimited thought angrily.

Before...

_Way up in the sky, separated from everyone that he had known in this world and away from everything else, Unlimited looked to the final problem, which he had pinned in his arms._

_"For them, and for all the people of this reality, I will never let you escape again."_

_The dark being only stared wide eyed at Unlimited, whose powers continued to grow._

_"It all ends HERE!" Unlimited yelled as his energy hit a pinnacle._

Back in the present...

At that moment, Unlimited yelled out blastingly loud, "STAY AWAY FROM THIS WORLD!!"

Unlimited's voice boomed across the world as his energy expanded incredibly into a massive column, stretching up into the sky and beyond. His voice shook the very fabric of space, but his seal upon the earth kept anything from crumbling from the sheer sound.

"I will NEVER let you take another world! This time, I will destroy you, Infinite!!" Unlimited yelled into the red sky.

Again, the evil laughter echoed from the sky, and a voice began to speak that sounded like Unlimited, but was joined by a demonically deep voice, which said, "That's what you said last time, and I'm still here."

Unlimited glared angrily into the sky, and the voice of Infinite said, "Enjoy your last few days in this realm, because you know what happens when we fight! HAHAHAHAHA!"

The red sky dissapated, and, knowing that they should leave too, Eggman and Mecha Sonic switched off their screens, leaving the city. Meanwhile, Unlimited descended to the ground, his body writhing with electricity and black energy.

He landed before the people and said plainly to them, "I am Unlimited. I came here to fight alongside Sonic and his friends. In the coming days, a battle unlike anything you've ever imagined will happen. Once the battle is over, I will be gone from this world. My only advice is to stay indoors and prepare to handle the worst. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer than this, but my life entails great burdens."

The people all seemed afraid and lost about what was going on, and finally, Unlimited said, "Please return to your business. There's nothing more to see."

The people did as he said, a little reluctantly, but eventually, they all left, as Unlimited turned around towards the Sonic team, looking at them for a moment, and then closing his eyes.

"Well, I missed something," Rouge said, her usual cool mood not lost.

Sonic and Amy came down from the roof and the rest of the Sonic team followed them as Sonic approached Unlimited and asked, "What happened? Who was that in the sky?"

Unlimited opened his eyes, and they saw the pain and horrors in the teen's eyes.

"He is a force greater than anything you've ever seen. A monstrous demon in the face of reality. And what's worst about him is, he's my creation," Unlimited told them grimly.

"Your creation?" Amy asked curiously.

Unlimited closed his eyes and said, "Well, I brought him into being, but I couldn't stop him from being created in myself..."

Before...

_Unlimited then powered up and he began to force all of his energy to the surface. Soon, he became electrified and he moaned, although his voice had a strange sound in it, as if another was groaning along with him. Then, Unlimited flashed white for a second and black energy began to spill from his body, falling on the floor and then rising into the air. Soon, Unlimited had expelled a great amount of energy, which now floated next to Unlimited._

_Unlimited looked to the evil, knowing that it would form into something else, and decided that if it was a part of him, it should have a name similar to his own._

_"Infinite..."_

Back in the present...

"Since he has been created, my life has been tormented by him. He has already forced me to banish myself and him from one world, and now..." Unlimited trailed off.

The Sonic team looked at him, as he lowered his eyes, but then gave a small smile and said, "That isn't important right now... All that matters is that you prepare yourselves for the fight. You will all emerge victorious, I know. For now, relax and enjoy these last few days that I spend with you," Unlimited said thoughtfully.

Sonic then asked, "But why won't you be around after the fight?"

Unlimited smiled softly and closed his eyes, saying, "I wish I could, but this power brings great tolls on myself."

Unlimited opened his eyes again and smiled, saying, "Please, don't brood on this. Go and take your minds off of all this. We'll be ready to handle it when it comes."

The Sonic team, for the most part, nodded and tried to seem supportive of Unlimited's predicament, and watched as Unlimited lifted into the air and suddenly disappeared.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Amy asked out loud.

Sonic replied, "I don't know, but he knows what's right."

Unlimited floated above the earth, looking down on the blue planet, his eyes filled with anger and despair.

_I thought I would be without this curse again, but it seems that I will be forever tormented by this evil..._

Unlimited looked behind him into deep space and thought, _Every time I make new allies and friends, you will come and bring ruin to it all. But I promise you, Infinite, I will not let that happen forever. I will find some way to stop you for good._

Unlimited looked back to the blue planet, which was seeing night now. He looked upon it with reverence, knowing that such a world, and all of its inhabitants, were, in his mind, more privileged than he to be able to live peacefully, without fear of a destructive force looming over them at every turn.

_I will protect all of you._

Back down on earth, the Sonic team had retired back to their resting places, Knuckles going back to Mystic Ruins, Rouge leaving to loom over the city, like the thief she is, and Shadow to the deepest reaches of the world.

As for the rest, most of the Sonic team were at Chris's house, as usual, and were trying to put the upcoming battle out of their minds.

Sonic, on the roof, was the one really worried.

_Fighting against Eggman, Mecha Sonic, who has all the Chaos Emeralds, and this other guy that Unlimited knows? It seems impossible... I shouldn't be thinking about it... But I can't relax..._

However, Sonic's serious expression as he stood on the balcony, looking into the sky, changed suddenly to curiosity.

Sonic sniffed the air, smelling something sweet and tantalizing, and said, "Huh?"

He turned around and, to his relief, saw that Amy was standing near him.

"Hi Sonic, I came up to try to get your mind off the fight. I brought you something," Amy told him, her voice filled with glee as he offered a plate with a slice of apple pie to him.

She added, with a bright smile, "I made it especially for you!"

Sonic turned to her, his face now showing surprise, and he asked, "You really made this for me?"

Amy beamed and nodded, and Sonic smiled, his eyes twinkling.

Sonic reached forward for the plate, but just as he had taken it, he looked into Amy's eyes, smiling deviously, and suddenly moved forward, grabbing her around the waist, and jumping onto the roof with her and the pie.

Amy cried out with surprise at first, but was laughing from the thrill as Sonic settled her and himself down on the roof together.

Amy looked to Sonic, who sat next to her, smiling sweetly, and said to him, "You know how to make me feel special. Sweeping me off my feet like that..."

Amy sighed dramatically, and Sonic smiled a little nervously, but then remembered her pie.

Amy looked back at Sonic as he picked up the fork and took a piece of the pie, carefully eating it, so he could try to see if she was using something on him.

However, when he tasted that pie, his eyes widened with surprise, and when he swallowed the bite, he looked down in awe of the simple pie.

He then looked at Amy, saying, "Amy, this is delicious!"

Amy's face lit up instantly and she cried, "Really?!"

Sonic smiled with satisfaction as he said, "Yeah! I didn't know you were so good at this!"

Amy smiled humbly, saying, "Well, I tried my hardest for you."

Amy, however, couldn't keep herself from smiling ear to ear as Sonic continued to eat the pie, savoring each bite.

Halfway through the slice, Sonic said, his voice dropping a little, "I feel really bad for ignoring you when you did this kind of stuff for me..."

Amy, however, put a hand on his arm and said, "Don't feel bad, Sonic. I know you were nervous, and didn't mean to ignore me."

Sonic smiled warmly again, and Amy gave him a reassuring look.

Sonic continued to eat the pie, eating it very slow so he could enjoy every piece, and when he finally finished it, Amy's eyes filled with joy.

Sonic licked his lips of the remaining filling from the pie, and was putting the plate down to his one side, away from Amy, when he said, "That might have been an incredibly sweet pie. But..."

Sonic was turned away from Amy, and she didn't see Sonic's face, which would've given away his plan. She looked confused, and when he didn't turn around, she asked, "But what?"

Sonic turned back to her, and when she saw the look on his face, smiling with his eyes half-lidded and gazing into hers, she knew almost instantly what he wanted to do.

Before she could do anything, though, he said to her, "I haven't even got to the sweetest part."

Sonic had been close to her, and before Amy knew it, Sonic drew himself up right to her face. Then, Amy's eyes glazed over as Sonic pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply, holding her by the back of her head with the other hand on her back.

Amy couldn't hold herself back, and moved her arms and pulled Sonic even closer, wanting all the love he was giving to her. Their white hot passion spilled over as they joined tongues again, swirling with each others' tongue as they opened their eyes, looking deep into each others' loving gaze.

After a couple of moments, they finally stopped kissing and held each other close, their hands softly holding the other.

"You may make a sweet pie, Amy, but nothing could ever be sweeter than you," Sonic said.

Amy's eyes filled with tears at his loving words, and she said, her voice airy, "Sonic, that's the most wonderful thing you've ever said to me."

Sonic smiled lovingly at the beautiful girl in his arms, and they both leaned forward and kissed again.

Sonic softly touched Amy's lips to his, gently kissing her versus their passionate kiss from before.

Amy moved her hands to Sonic's face and delicately held him as they kissed, feeling the warmth from each other, their soft breath on their faces.

Again, they stopped, and they held each other close in an embrace, each one crying softly for the love they had.

"I love you so much, Amy," Sonic said first.

"I love you, too, Sonic!" Amy said, her heart overflowing, and her eyes literally doing that.

Sonic then took Amy into his arms and looked her in the eyes and said, "Amy, you don't mind if we sleep together in your bed tonight, do you?"

Amy's eyes brightened even more as she cried, "No, of course I don't mind! I'd love to!"

Sonic smiled passionately again, and suddenly sweeped Amy off the roof into his arms, at which she began to laugh joyfully again, and Sonic brought the two of them to Amy's room.

He set Amy down as he opened the bed up again, and let her climb in, following her right after.

Again, they cuddled into each others' soft arms, kissing softly as they drifted into wonderful dreams of each other again.

Amy found herself in a large field of flowers, surrounding her for as far as she could see.

She looked around in awe, her eyes glistening with the incredible sight, when she heard a soft voice from behind her say, "It's beautiful, huh?"

She turned to the voice and saw, of course, Sonic standing before her, holding a large, red rose out to her.

"Oh, Sonic," Amy said joyfully, reaching out and taking the rose, looking at it, knowing it showed Sonic's real feelings for her.

She looked into his eyes again and said, "Sonic, do you think we're gonna make it through this battle?"

Sonic took Amy's hand in his and said, "No problem. With all of our friends beside us, we'll make it through this battle together."

"Are you sure, Sonic? What if... I lose you...? I don't think I could live without you..." Amy said sadly.

However, Sonic then held Amy in his arms and said, "I'm sure, just as how I'm sure I'm in love with you. We'll make it through together, and I promise, I won't let us be separated."

"Thank you, Sonic," Amy said, her voice beginning to break.

Then, Sonic leaned forward and kissed Amy softly, who placed the rose she was given on the ground as they lowered to their knees. Leaning onto the flowers all around them, the two lovers stopped kissing and looked at each other again.

For a long time in the dream, the two hedgehogs looked at each other lovingly, very close to each other and gently caressing each other.

Amy let go of a single tear while she laid there with Sonic, who softly brushed it away.

Finally, the dream ended as Amy said, "I wish that you could've had this same dream with me, too."

Sonic then, drawing close, said, "You know, I think I am."

The dream faded as they kissed softly one last time.

The next day, the Sonic team looked at the TV, waiting for a specific time to go fight Eggman and Mecha Sonic, while Unlimited scoured the globe looking for either one.

Most of the day had passed, and it seemed like Eggman wasn't going to show up at all when, all of a sudden, the door flew open and that same laugh came into the house, although this time, it seemed to have a drop of fear mixed in, and Bokun said, "HI! I've got a message for all of you!"

The Sonic team appeared from everywhere, looking at the robot, who landed on the ground to pull out the TV.

Unlimited appeared at that moment, nearly making Bokun drop the TV in fright.

Finally, the picture came on and Eggman said, "Greetings Sonic. I've come here to tell you that our fight will begin in three days, at Great Plains as I already said. Meet me there, and prepare for your doom."

Sonic smirked at this and said, "Eggman needs a new greeting."

Bokun said, putting away the TV, "Don't think that with your new friend you can win! Dr. Eggman has all of his weapons ready to fight, and Mecha Sonic will have all the power he needs to fight him (Pointing at Unlimited)."

"Well, just you wait," Amy said, the others nodding, "When we show up, we'll mop the floor with all of you!"

Bokun argued back, "Yeah right! I'd like to see you even beat one of Eggman's robots!"

"Done!" Amy yelled out, bringing out her hammer, at which Bokun yelled out as he bolted out the door, although, from the sound of the high-pitched yell of pain, Amy hit her target.

"And don't come back!" Amy shouted.

Sonic smiled at her vigor, and then, Tails from beside him said, "We should tell the others about the time."

Unlimited then said, "I'll tell them."

They turned around only to see him leave instantly, and they now looked to each other.

"Well, you guys, are we ready to fight?!" Sonic asked.

"Yeah!" They all answered, and Sonic nodded confidently.

At that moment, Unlimited returned and said, "They know."

Sonic gave a thumbs-up and said, "Great, now we're ready to win!"

They seemed to be ready and geared up, but that's when Amy said, "Hey wait! I forgot!"

She then turned to Unlimited, who knew what she was about to ask.

"What's going to happen to you?" Amy asked of the teen.

They all looked at him, and he said, "In 3 days, Infinite will arrive here, and I will have to face him. Unfortunately, his powers are exactly the same as mine, and no matter what I do, even if I kill him, he will keep coming back to the realm that I am in. In the end, I will have to leave this realm. It depends on if I win if I will ever be able to come back..."

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

Unlimited closed his eyes, thinking about the last time he faced Infinite.

"If I can't beat him normally, I have only one way to stop him from hurting you and destroying everything. I have to destroy myself by overloading my body with energy. When that happens, I will take him with me, and the both of us will be banished from this realm."

They all looked sad about this predicament, and Amy asked, "Is there any way around this? Couldn't you come back somehow?"

Unlimited looked up and smiled, saying, "Only if this universe is in sudden turmoil... I can return through the weakened barriers that I set when I leave, and that's the only way."

The Sonic team seemed down to have to lose such a great friend and ally, but Sonic perked up and said, "I know we'll see you again!'

The others got heart from this, and they smiled at Unlimited, who nodded gratefully.

"I say that, before this fight, we should have a party, so we can have one more good time together!" Amy suggested.

"That sounds good," Unlimited agreed.

The rest of that day went in to preparing for the party, which began later that evening.

During this party, the team and Unlimited just enjoyed some of Unlimited's retellings of his past adventure, how he had fought against incredible fighters just like them, and how he had witnessed another love bloom while he was there, making Sonic and Amy squeeze each other's hand a little harder (Read the previous fics to understand the other relationship).

The Sonic team was held mesmerized by what he said, and his stories eventually ended with his last fight, just before he came to this world.

Later on during the party, the Sonic team just joked and had a good time, but Unlimited went out and stood on the house, looking into the night sky with deep reverence.

_I'm glad to leave this world as peaceful as it is,_ Unlimited thought to himself.

His eyes held deep sadness for having to leave it again, but he thought, _I might wish to stay here, but my goal will never end. I must stop the evil of reality, and until I do that, Infinite will forever follow me._

He lowered his arms to his sides and clenched his fists, saying, "I'm glad to have met you, Sonic, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and the rest of you. It was good being with you for these brief few days, but my fight will forever extend."

Unlimited smiled to himself, letting one single, small tear leave his eye, and he said finally, "I will see you again."

The battle is set. The fighters are ready. And it's going to be the ultimate.

Preview for Chapter 6: The Day of Reckoning: The Sonic team and Unlimited enjoy their last two days together, watching time fly by as the battle comes closer. Finally, the day has come and the fighters must embark on their most perilous fight yet. Will the Sonic team win out against Eggman and Mecha Sonic? And what will become of Unlimited and his evil alter-ego Infinite? Find out in the next installment of Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	6. The Day of Reckoning

Fanfiction and the character Unlimited is property of Josh Kovatch, 2008.

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 6: The Day of Reckoning

Just two more days of peace remained before the battle would commence. Unlimited watched over the earth, occasionally returning to Chris's house to spend some time with the Sonic team.

Unlimited knew that this kind of thing would happen.

_Since I removed Infinite from my body, I knew that I would be forever chained to this responsibility._

Unlimited would spend most of his remaining days near Chris's house, but he would remain alone. 2 days before, he was on the roof of the house, looking up into the sky, wondering how he could defeat Infinite, knowing that the last time he had fought him, he might've weakened his evil twin.

As he was lost in thought, Sonic came up on the roof and said, "Hey!"

Unlimited looked down and him and gave a small smile, saying, "Hey..."

Sonic knew Unlimited was in a tough place with this battle, and he said, "You know, I was thinking. What if we helped you fight this Infinite guy? Even if you still had to leave, you could always come back."

Unlimited closed his eyes, still smiling, and said, "Thanks for your offer, but I can't let you fight him."

Sonic then asked, "But why not? You said we could've beaten you when we fought. If this guy's got the same power, we should be able to easily win!"

Unlimited however, looked at him, and Sonic realized he didn't know enough about Unlimited, who said, "I have to level with you Sonic. I wasn't using my full strength that day. If I had been, I'm pretty sure I could've beaten you and your friends fairly easily."

"Really?! Then why did you stop so soon?" Sonic asked, baffled.

"I couldn't hurt a group of people who only wanted to do good, so I made it up to stop the fight," Unlimited explained.

Sonic looked at him with understanding, but seemed still a little confused, and Unlimited continued, "I can't let you fight Infinite. I might have been willing to give up so I wouldn't hurt you, but Infinite will stop at nothing to destroy you all. He will hold nothing back. It's too dangerous for all of you to get involved."

But then, another voice sounded, "We've been through a lot of danger."

The two on the roof looked over to see that Amy had also come up, apparently to look for Sonic but now wanted to put in her words.

"Sonic and the rest of us have been through the worst dangers you can think of. This guy you're talking about might be powerful, but if we all joined forces, I know we could win together," Amy said, care in her voice.

Unlimited smiled, and Amy walked up next to Sonic, the two of them looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and Amy said, "Sonic has always been ready to put himself in harm's way for his friends, including me."

Sonic smiled and took Amy's hand, at which she smiled brightly, and she continued, "And if he can do that for us, then we can do that for you!"

Unlimited smiled, and closed his eyes again, saying, "Thank you. You are truly great friends."

Amy came up to Unlimited, who opened his eyes as he sensed her approach. She then stopped and held out her hand, saying, "So, is it a deal?"

Unlimited smiled, and took her hand, saying, "I accept it."

Amy smiled, and she said, "We'll do everything we can to win this fight! You can count on us!"

Sonic then came up next to Amy and said, "For sure! We're behind you to the very end!"

Unlimited nodded, grateful for their kind words, and then said, "Thank you."

He turned and took a few steps and said, "The battle isn't for another 2 days. Enjoy your time together here."

Unlimited turned back to look at the two hedgehogs again, who were holding hands and smiling, and Sonic gave him a thumbs up. Unlimited, smirking, returned it, and then turned and flew up and away from them.

As the two watched from the roof, Sonic said, "You really know how to convince people Amy."

"Well, I tried so hard when I was trying to get you to love me, so I got a lot of practice," Amy said, her face shining.

Sonic turned to her as she giggled, and when she looked back into his eyes, he took her in his arms as they laid down on the roof, just holding each other for now.

They laid there for a few minutes, feeling the warmth from the other, and then, Amy said, "Sonic, did you have a dream where you were in a field of flowers with me last night?"

Sonic's eyes widened and he smiled as he said, "Yeah, I did!"

Amy looked at him in amazement, saying, "So we did have the same dream!"

The two sat up and gazed at each other, and Amy asked, just like in the dream, "So you really think we'll make it?"

Sonic brought a hand up to Amy's face and caressed it, at which she crooned softly, as he said, "You said it yourself Amy. With all of us together, we'll win this battle easily and we'll all be together in the end."

"Oh, Sonic, you're so caring," Amy said, her voice once again lofty, and Sonic told her, "Not as much as you."

The two hedgehogs smiled again as they hugged each other and kissed again, very softly brushing their lips with the other's, giggling a little against each other.

They stopped after a few moments and just cuddled there again, laying on the roof and looking into the bright blue sky.

Amy then said, "I'm never lonely now. All I have to do is look up into the sky and I see you in it."

Sonic smiled at her words, and he told her, "Whenever I'm running around, I try to find a rose so that I can hold it close, because I see you in it."

Amy hugged Sonic a little tighter and she said, "Did you think love would ever be so wonderful?"

Sonic tightened his hug too and said, "I thought it would be."

And the two of them just laid there together, looking into the sky and softly singing their song of love to each other.

The days passed quickly, and the Sonic team couldn't believe how fast they went. Finally, it was here. The third day since they had received the message.

Outside of Chris's house, Sonic and his friends had gathered. Knuckles and Rouge had arrived, but Shadow was nowhere to be found.

"That Shadow... Doesn't he know that you don't keep a lady waiting?" Rouge said.

Meanwhile, as the other Sonic team members stood by, Tails and Chuck were preparing the X-Tornado to fight, knowing that it wouldn't be an unfair advantage like with Unlimited.

Finally, the X-Tornado was ready, and Tails said, "Alright, now we're ready to go!"

But then the fox stopped, and he was looking at the four other fighters around him, excluding Unlimited.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Sonic asked.

"I just realized, there's only 3 open seats, and four of you guys," Tails told them.

Usually, Sonic would get on the outside of the plane, but Sonic said, "No problem, I'll take Amy and run to Great Plains."

Tails looked a little confused about why Sonic would do that, but Rouge put in, "Oh, want some time to smooch before the big fight, huh?"

Sonic scratched his head embarrassed as Amy yelled, "That's none of your business!"

"Easy, dear, I don't care. I think it's lovely," Rouge replied calmly.

Amy's eyes still reflected anger, but Sonic said, "We'd better get going, before Eggman goes berserk and attacks something!"

The team agreed, and Tails got in the plane in the front while Knuckles and Rouge got in the back.

When they were buckled in, Rouge said teasingly, "Hey, maybe we could have some time together before the fight, Knucky?"

Knuckles's eyes widened in frustration, saying loudly, "You're batty!"

Rouge then smiled deviously and said, "I know you want to, but I guess you're too afraid."

Knuckles yelled, "Don't get me started with that!"

As those two had their moment, Chris and Chuck, as well as the others staying at the house said their goodbyes to the fighters.

"We'll be back soon!" Tails told them as the hatch for the X-Tornado closed.

On the ground, Sonic looked to Amy and asked, "Ready Amy?"

"Yeah, let's go!" Amy replied wholeheartedly.

Sonic turned and Amy climbed on his back, holding on tight as Sonic began to run.

As Sonic and Amy took off, Tails started the X-Tornado and blasted off as well, taking the three in the plane into the sky over Sonic and Amy.

Finally, Unlimited watched after them, and finally, he rose into the sky and powered up, dropping two bracelets for now, and finally blasted away from Chris's house.

Unlimited stayed above the X-Tornado as it flew towards the Great Plains. Sonic and Amy below were zipping through the streets.

Amy felt the rush of Sonic's speed and was laughing, and said, "Sonic, I know why you love running so much!"

Sonic chuckled a little and said, "If there was something I could wish for you, it would be that you and I could run together as fast as I do. I really do wish we could."

Amy smiled brightly, her heart filling again, and she said, "That's sounds wonderful! But all I wish is to be with you!"

Sonic looked back at the smiling pink hedgehog, and he said, "Me too! I love you Amy!"

Amy told him softly in his ear, "I love you Sonic!"

The two kept going as the overhead allies kept flying towards the Great Plains, which they were now nearing.

After 15 minutes of flying, the three groups reached the Great Plains, which was about 50 miles from Station Square.

Sonic and Amy were the first to stop, and they looked around, wondering where Eggman's thousands of robots were.

"Weird, I thought he'd be here already," Sonic said.

Sonic then looked in a different direction and saw, standing with his back turned to Sonic about 100 feet away, Shadow.

"Hey, Shadow!" Sonic called out.

The black hedgehog didn't respond, of course, and Amy said, "He's in a good mood."

Then, from overhead, the jet engine of the X-Tornado roared and hummed as it hovered over the two hedgehogs. The back hatch opened and Knuckles and Rouge got out.

Finally, making Shadow turn around for the first time, Unlimited came down from the sky and landed on the ground next to all of the other fighters already there.

The ones already there regarded him, but Shadow then walked up to the group, looking at Unlimited, and said, "I am ready to fight alongside you, Unlimited."

"You know, Shadow, we're right here," Rouge said.

Shadow paid no heed to her, but Unlimited had only nodded briefly before his eyes snapped in another direction, making him turn towards the direction he was looking.

"Are they here?" Sonic asked.

Unlimited stared out towards the vast plains ahead of him, and he said, "Eggman has been here."

They looked out at the plains again, wondering if he was right, and sure enough, there was Eggman, standing on the other side of the field, looking directly at them.

"What's he doing?" Knuckles asked, puzzled why Eggman was all alone out here.

Unlimited then rose up into the air again, saying, "I'll go greet him."

Unlimited flew towards Eggman at moderate speed, covering the expanse of the fields in a short amount of time.

He reached the doctor, who was looking at Unlimited warily.

"So, you decided to show up? I must say, that's very brave of you," Eggman snorted.

Unlimited said nothing, but only continued to stare daggers at Eggman, who seemed a little irked by this.

Eggman then said, "I'm waiting for Mecha Sonic to arrive, at which point, the battle will begin."

Unlimited smirked, however, and Eggman looked at him curiously, saying, "What are you smiling about?"

Unlimited simply looked up into the sky, and Eggman followed his eyes. From the other side of the field, the Sonic team saw them do this and did the same.

There, up in the sky above them all, Mecha Sonic was already floating.

"Here we go," Sonic said, getting ready for the fight to begin.

Eggman stared up at the robot, who now descended once he was discovered, and landed away from Eggman and Unlimited, making them the same distance apart.

"Well, I'm surprised that you haven't tried to destroy me yet," Mecha Sonic sneered.

"I plan to fight fairly, but I recommend you prepare to fight now," Unlimited told them.

"I won't until this other fighter you know shows up!" Mecha Sonic barked.

"He's not around, yet, so you'd do well to power up now!" Unlimited said, suddenly turning and flying back towards the Sonic team.

Eggman and Mecha Sonic both looked worried, but Eggman then pushed a button on his watch, and suddenly the ground began to shake.

As Unlimited returned to the Sonic team, he said, "Get ready."

They all nodded, and Tails rose into the air above them, getting ready to fight from the skies.

Then, from across the battlefield, the Sonic team saw Eggman's robots sprout from the ground in lines, filling the horizon with hundreds of robots of all types: ones with guns, swords, axes, some really big to crush opponents, others with spikes covering their body.

The Sonic team looked at these robots warily, but got ready to fight with all of their might.

"Let him use all those robots," Amy said, summoning her hammer to her, "We have friendship on our side!"

They agreed silently with her, and Unlimited smirked at Eggman, who seemed a little scared now.

But then, Mecha Sonic began to chuckle, and he said, "Your puny robots will be nothing compared to all of them, Eggman. But I, on the other hand, will have all the power I need."

At that moment, the robot threw his arms out to the sides, and to him, he summoned the Chaos Emeralds.

"He's got the Chaos Emeralds," Knuckles said nervously.

The others looked a little scared as the robot began to bring out the power of the emeralds.

"Now! I will show you runts the meaning of fear! And I will destroy ALL OF YOU!!" Mecha Sonic yelled, suddenly glowing brightly as the robot began to absorb the power of the emeralds.

Then, the robot yelled, "AhhhhAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

At that moment, the ground shook violently, nearly knocking down the fighters on the ground, and Mecha Sonic blasted into a fiery aura that began to sear the ground around him. The energy in the robot's body skyrocketed, as Unlimited noted.

Slowly, the robot's exterior changed. His body began to grow longer points on his head and back, and his arms suddenly expanded. Then, his torso and legs expanded a bit, and the robot's energy was growing faster than before.

From across the field, the Sonic team watched the terrifying transformation.

Amy drew close to Sonic, who put an arm around her comfortingly.

The others watched Mecha Sonic change with fear and apprehension, and Unlimited's serious face did not falter.

Eggman, who was near Mecha Sonic, was also clearly in fear of the former minion of his. Even if he was fighting on his side for now, Eggman knew that he would easily turn on him if they won, and that would not be good.

Then, Eggman, in his floating pod, was pushed back by a sudden gust of wind when Mecha Sonic suddenly flashed blindingly white, and the Sonic team saw this and covered their eyes.

Unlimited, however, stared into the light, unfazed by the display. He felt Mecha Sonic's energy reach a frightening level, something the other Sonic team members would never be able to stop.

Finally, the light began to die out, and the Sonic team uncovered their eyes to look at the newly transformed Mecha Sonic.

Standing 8 inches taller than before, his body was bulkier than it was and his scanner-like eye in his head now glowed menacingly dark red. His body was also surrounded by a ferocious red aura, and the metal on his body shone, as if polished.

Sonic and the others looked at the threatening form of Mecha Sonic in front of them, and none of them could believe what they were seeing.

"Sonic, I'm scared..." Amy told him softly from beside him.

"Don't worry Amy..." Sonic reassured, although he was also staring on in fear.

"I've never seen such power," Knuckles said, almost speechless.

But then, to surprise everyone there, Unlimited did something stunning.

He began to laugh.

Mecha Sonic, with his new, incredible power, heard him do this and yelled, "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!"

Eggman looked on, realizing that the chances of him and Mecha Sonic winning might now have dropped to little.

Unlimited looked at Mecha Sonic, smiling with hidden knowledge, and said to Mecha Sonic, "You kept saying you were going to show me fear. Well, I don't see it."

Mecha Sonic said in irritation, "What are you saying?"

Unlimited raised his arms to his sides and said, "It's time to show you the meaning of real power... of unlimited power!"

At that moment, the Sonic team and the two on the other side of the field saw Unlimited release all five of his bracelets and raise one of his hands.

With a snap of his fingers, Unlimited's hand began to emit light, which flew at the ground and at his forehead. When they both hit, they began to shine with bright light, until they formed infinity symbols on both of his targets.

Mecha Sonic looked on indifferently, wondering what kind of useless trick Unlimited had pulled. Then, Unlimited smirked once more, before suddenly, the dust around him kicked up and swirled around him fast.

At that moment, he was surrounded by his white aura, showing that he was slowly charging up.

The Sonic team watched the fighter get ready to fight, and Rouge said, "What's that boy doing?"

Sonic said, "He's releasing his full power, going one step at a time!"

The Sonic team watched in awe of the teen, and waited for him to reach-

In that instant, Unlimited's white aura dissolved into his blue one, which widened it around himself.

Then, quickly, the blue aura was replaced by a red one, which rose up from his feet and slithered up his body to his head.

Mecha Sonic watched this now with nervousness. Eggman was also become frightened by the true power Unlimited might have.

The Sonic team just continued to watched, having seen Unlimited's auras change like this, and then, the teen pushed on into the next level, making his body glow momentarily and suddenly flash to reveal his gold aura.

Finally, Unlimited looked up towards the two villains from across the battlefield, and said, "Now, prepare to see the power unlike any you've ever seen before!!"

It was then, with a sudden field of electricity flying up and down his body that Unlimited, by shattering his gold aura, finally blasted into his final and most ominous black aura, making the infinity symbol on his forehead glow.

Then, Unlimited yelled out and the energy from his body expanded and shot into the sky as a massive black column of energy, extending for miles into the atmosphere.

Mecha Sonic watched in sudden anxiety, seeing that Unlimited's strength was far greater than his demonstration from the other day.

Eggman, from behind Mecha Sonic, said in horror, "His energy output... I can't even measure it!"

"WHAT?!" Mecha Sonic yelled at the doctor in shock.

The robot and doctor looked back at Unlimited, who let his energy return to the earth, and now just floated in front of the Sonic team, who all looked ready to battle for the safety of the planet.

"Now, the battle begins," Unlimited said.

With the two sides ready to fight, the Sonic team and Unlimited face off against Eggman and Mecha Sonic in the biggest battle Sonic and friends had ever experienced.

Preview for next chapter: Organic Vs. Artificial: Unlimited and Sonic team find themselves evenly matched against Mecha Sonic and Eggman's robots. The battle grows intense, and each attack brings each side more fear of who will win. And where is Infinite? Find out in the next installment of Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	7. Organic Vs Artificial

Fanfiction and the character Unlimited are property of Josh Kovatch, 2008.

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 7: Organic Vs. Artificial

The two sides, fully powered up and ready to fight, stared each other down for just a moment longer, enjoying the last seconds of peace before the battle to decide their fate would begin.

Then, Eggman suddenly shouted to his army, "GO! GET THEM ALL!!"

Suddenly, all of Eggman's robots came to life and began to charge past Eggman and Mecha Sonic towards the Sonic team.

"LET'S GO!!" Sonic yelled out.

The six fighters behind Unlimited took off towards the advancing robots, Sonic and Shadow in front, Amy and Knuckles following, and Rouge and Tails taking to the skies.

Meanwhile, Unlimited remained where he was, looking at Mecha Sonic, who was also waiting one more moment.

The opponents were about to collide in the middle of the field, Sonic and Shadow about to attack the first sword robots, when all of a sudden, both of the last fighters disappeared and all the others felt a shockwave come from the sky. There, Mecha Sonic and Unlimited had punched each other's fists, locking them forcefully. Mecha Sonic, however, was surprised to feel that Unlimited's fist, even though it was of flesh and bone, felt just as hard as his metal fist. The two then backed up and began to throw punches at each other at breakneck speeds.

Speaking of breakneck speed, down below, Sonic and Shadow began to tear through the crowd of sword-wielding robots, taking them down quickly. Over the first two hedgehogs heads, many robots wielding axes jumped and landed behind them, trying to surround them. However, Amy and Knuckles stormed up from behind and began smashing them one by one. Some of the axe robots turned and tried to take out the new fighters, one of them bringing its axe up above Amy and swinging it down.

Amy saw this and became frightened, but instead of crying out, she remembered something.

_I've repaired your hammer to be more durable and powerful than before._

Amy realized this, and, hoping it would work, brought her hammer up with the handle defending her. The robot's axe plummeted down and nailed her hammer, but amazingly, the axe shattered and the robot pulled in back in alarm.

Amy smiled and said, "Now nothing can stop me!"

She stormed forward, bashing the robot hard and sending it into another, causing them to both explode. Meanwhile, Knuckles tore through some of the other axe robots, breaking each one down and dodging the axes they swung at him. At one point, one jumped up into the air and came towards Knuckles, who was turned around fighting another. He turned after gutting the robot in front of him only to see the new one nearly put him out. However, at that moment, Rouge flew in from the sky and did her spinning kick into the robot's head, destroying it easily.

Knuckles looked at the floating bat and said, conceitedly, "I was going to get him!"

Rouge simply said, "You're welcome."

However, Rouge didn't see another type of robot, a flying one with a spear, approaching from behind her.

"HEY! LOOK OUT!" Knuckles tried to warn her, but Rouge turned around only to see the robot about to wound her. However, it was above that Rouge was spared, as Tails shot the robot with a laser and destroyed it.

Then, the X-Tornado and its pilot began to fire missiles on the field below, where many huge robots were. These robots were able to stand up to many of the missiles, but they didn't notice Shadow, who raced towards them and began cutting them down by their legs. One by one, the large robots fell and then were destroyed by the barrage of missiles from Tails.

Meanwhile, Sonic continued fighting off the fast sword robots, who were making moving around difficult for the hedgehog. Sonic turned into a spinball and began taking out one robot after another, charging through their chests. However, it was at that moment that Sonic charged at one of the huge robots that were behind them, and the robot smashed Sonic back the way he came.

Sonic hit the ground but got up quickly, but turned around in time to see one of the sword robots swing his sharp blade at him. But just then, Amy jumped between the two and blocked the sword with her hammer like before, and the blade bounced off with no effect to Amy's hammer.

"Thanks Amy!" Sonic said in relief.

Amy turned and winked at him, and the two quickly jumped at the sword robot in front of them and bashed it hard, causing another explosion.

Meanwhile, Tails in the sky looked down on the robots that were still coming.

"There's so many robots. I don't think the X-Tornado has enough firepower to deal with them all," Tails said to himself.

However, his mind was jerked to another part of the fight when he turned and saw a blast of energy coming towards him from the sky.

"WHOA! What's that?!" Tails exclaimed as the energy flew fast at him.

Just as it nearly hit him, though, Unlimited appeared and deflected it easily, sending it back at Mecha Sonic, who had fired it. Unlimited flew at lightning speed and watched as the blast hit the defending robot. Unlimited plunged through the smoke and kicked Mecha Sonic in the head, sending him to the side while Unlimited followed up with a quaking axhandle. The robot plummeted to the ground and hit, making a crater 20 feet across. Smoke and dust flew into the air from the crater, and Unlimited, charging a blast in his hands again, dropped into the crater in no time flat and fired the blast right in the robot's face. The explosion was tremendous, and many of the fighters standing on the ground were thrown off.

Sonic had seen Unlimited fire the attack at such close range, and said, "Is he alright himself?"

Then, from behind him, he heard a voice say, "I never intend to hurt myself."

Sonic turned quickly and saw Unlimited standing there, smirking at the hedgehog, who smiled in relief. However, another one of the massive robots came up from behind Unlimited and Sonic yelled, "Look out!"

Unlimited then, from nowhere, pulled out his sword again and shot backwards, disappearing in front of the robot and reappearing behind it, facing away from it.

The robot stood for a moment, but then it suddenly collapsed and exploded, apparently sliced into pieces by Unlimited.

The teen disappeared again, and Sonic watched him go, and then, turned to see Knuckles being beared down upon by another one of the huge robots. Sonic took off towards his friend and turned into a spinball again, shooting through the arms of the robot that were trying to crush Knuckles. The echidna went through the broken arms and stormed right up to the robot's face, literally punching a hole in it. He jumped from the head and watched as the robot exploded, making it fall on another sword robot that was nearby.

Now, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy regrouped in front of the remaining robots they had been fighting as some new ones approached. Now, these new ones had sharp, fast claws, others had long limbs, and a few were just hard spheres of metal, who looked like they were meant to roll over their opponents.

As these robots started charging, the three waiting saw Shadow and Rouge fly in immediately. Rouge began to attack the ones with claws, but was thoroughly surprised when the first one easily caught her. Rouge struggled to break free, but she couldn't budge the robot's claw. However, Shadow was quick to retaliate against it by slicing through it with his Chaos Spear, making it drop Rouge.

Rouge turned to the black hedgehog and said, "That was kind of you Shadow. I adore a man of bravery."

Shadow only glared at her, and then disappeared as one of the rolling robots nearly flattened him. The robot kept rolling, charging for the other three fighters. Amy jumped forward and brought back her hammer, thrusting it forward with incredible strength and nailing the robot. Even though it seemed to take no damage, it flew backwards and screamed at the crowd of claws robots ahead of the Sonic team. The sphere crashed into the group, making them fly and explode like a bowling ball hitting pins.

"Nice shot, Amy!" Sonic complimented.

Amy replied, "Thanks, Sonic!"

However, Knuckles was the one who then ran forward, suddenly with the Shovel-Claws on, and went for another one of the sphere robots. It came at him at full blast, and Knuckles, unfortunately, didn't have enough time to try to punch it. Knuckles was hit hard and shot up into the air, unable to compose himself.

From the crater from earlier, the supposedly defeated Mecha Sonic blasted into the air and roared at Knuckles.

Down on the ground, Sonic saw this and yelled, "KNUCKLES! LOOK OUT!"

However, just as the menace nearly rammed Knuckles, Unlimited appeared right in Mecha Sonic's path and gave him a metal crunching punch to the face. The robot was sent down hard again, although this time, he stopped himself before he made another crater. Unlimited stormed down at him while Knuckles shook his head and looked around as he began to fall back down from the sphere attack. Tails flew in at that moment and Knuckles landed on the X-Tornado, and stayed aboard the ship while Tails kept firing lasers at the claw robots and the ones with long limbs. However, Tails didn't realize that the ones with longer arms could extend them to grab ahold of the X-Tornado, which they did.

"Uh-oh!" Tails exclaimed, feeling his ship losing altitude.

Knuckles saw this and jumped off the ship, gliding in towards the long-armed robots. Three had already latched onto the X-Tornado, and Knuckles came down and easily knocked the block off of one of them. Then, Rouge came down and drilled right through the second one and finally, Amy jumped up from behind the third one and hammered its head down into its body.

The three robots exploded, and the fighters jumped back down to the ground. Sonic had been running through the claw robots, taking them down easily with his speed, when he saw them do this. It was that momentary lapse of concentration that allowed one of the claw robots to pluck him from the ground and lift him into air.

"HEY! Let go of me, you hunk of junk!" Sonic yelled, making Amy turn around from attacking the long-limbed robot and see another approaching the claw robot with Sonic.

Amy tried to run towards Sonic to help him, but she felt herself grabbed at that moment by another long armed robot and lifted into the air.

"NO! Let me go! I've gotta help Sonic!" Amy cried out.

Sonic however, wouldn't need help from the claw robot, who let go at that instant. Unfortunately for Sonic, the long legged robot that was standing near the claw robot that dropped him reeled back and kicked Sonic hard up into the air, the hedgehog falling into the tangle of robots ahead of them.

Amy saw this and nearly broke down in tears, and she cried, "SONIC!!"

Sonic flew towards the bulk of the remaining robots, unable to steady himself. Amy watched him go, worried and scared for him, and she used her hammer to pierce the armor of the robot holding her.

The robot quickly let go and Amy dropped to the ground, running towards the direction Sonic went. However, in her way came three of the sphere robots, blocking her path. Amy looked on in fear, but from behind, Knuckles yelled, "Amy, run!"

The pink hedgehog turned and saw Knuckles running towards the robots, and she began to run in his direction, very sad to have to leave Sonic. Knuckles, in the meantime, ran for the sphere robots and, this time, threw a whistling fist at one of them and easily pierced it. Knuckles punched again and again in the same place until he hit the brain of the robot and destroyed it, making it explode next to the two others.

These two spheres began to roll full speed past Knuckles, who was suddenly confronted by the first robots with missile launching arms. Knuckles jumped just in time to avoid four missiles that they fired right at him. Then, the echidna glided at one of them and twisted it around as it tried to fire again, making it hit two of the other robots next to it. Finally, Knuckles got up to the head of the robot and bashed it in, jumping off after.

Meanwhile, the two rolling robots came roaring like trains at Amy, who was running as hard as she could, but then turned back to see the two spheres gaining on her. She kept running, her eyes filled with worry and fear, when all of a sudden, she tripped on debris from another robot and fell forward.

Amy cried out, "OH NO!!"

In her sprinting mind, she frantically thought, _It's all over, I'll never see Sonic again..._

But at that moment, Amy felt herself lifted into the air and above the rolling robots. She looked up to see Rouge taking her out of harm's way.

Amy smiled with relief and happiness and said, "Thank you, Rouge!"

"My pleasure, girl," Rouge told her.

But it was at that moment that the two girls were suddenly confronted by more of the long-armed robots from below.

Rouge began doing some quick maneuvers to dodge the arms while Amy swung at them, beating back the grabbing hands.

Amy yelled down at the robots, "Keep your hands to yourself!"

The two girls avoided the robots from the air, while on the ground, Shadow began to slice through the robots while they had their eyes turned to the sky.

One by one, the confident hedgehog ripped up each robot, until finally, all of the long limbed robots were destroyed.

Up in the air, the two girls smiled at Shadow's help, but suddenly they heard a voice from behind say, "You two should know better than to let your guard down!"

The two turned suddenly to the voice, seeing the glowing Mecha Sonic about to fire an energy blast at them. The menace fired the attack and the two in the sky shut their eyes and prepared for the worst.

The blast, at that moment, hit and exploded, filling where they had been with smoke.

From below, Shadow saw this and looked up in sudden worry. Even if he didn't care about either of them, he still had a side of him that didn't want to see them get hurt.

Mecha Sonic laughed and said, "Good. That's two runts wiped away."

"Not quite."

Mecha Sonic grunted in anger, but then saw the two girls before him unscathed, as they were surrounded by a glowing orb of energy.

The two opened their eyes and saw the shield, and Rouge said, "That was a close one."

Mecha Sonic looked angrily around, and he heard Unlimited say, "Your anger is clouding your focus."

Mecha Sonic heard this directly behind him, and he spun around immediately, only to see a glowing ball of energy in his face.

The ensuing explosion rocked the air and ground, and the two girls nearby had to drop to the ground from the force. Meanwhile, Mecha Sonic fell to the ground after the attack, Unlimited staying where he was at.

Meanwhile, Amy and Rouge dropped to the ground as Knuckles ran up and said, "Are you two alright?"

Amy nodded while Rouge said, "Aww, were you worried about us, Knuckles?"

Knuckles countered by yelling, "That's NOT why I asked!"

However, Rouge simply smiled and made Knuckles even more angry. Amy, though, stepped off to the side and looked at the crowd of robots still coming.

Amy said, with a note of sadness in her voice, "Sonic's still over there. I hope he's alright."

Eggman had been watching this entire time, looking at the progress of his robots in defeating the Sonic team.

"I had hoped that my numbers would've been able to stop them, but that Unlimited kid has been a real pain. If he wasn't here, I would've won already!" Eggman shouted.

Then, Eggman was suddenly rocked by a massive shockwave, which he saw was from Unlimited punching Mecha Sonic at incredible speeds.

"It seems that even Mecha Sonic is a waste of time against that boy. How can he be stronger than the Chaos Emeralds AND my best robot ever?!"

Then, Eggman looked to the center of his robot army left and saw Sonic, who despite his ability to stay out of reach of his robots, wasn't able to attack very much to stay alive.

"Well, at least my robots have Sonic on the ropes. Maybe I'll finally be rid of that meddling hedgehog once and for all!" Eggman said evilly.

Now, from the sky, Tails looked to the crowd of robots attacking Sonic. Many of them were firing machineguns at him, but they were of course missing. However, Tails noticed something strange.

"Sonic isn't fighting. He probably can't stop running to fight them," Tails realized.

He looked at all of them, and Sonic was moving near all of them at one point or another.

"I can't fire down there without endangering Sonic. I'll have to hope the others can get to him in time," Tails said.

As for the others, they were now going towards the crowd again, this time meeting more missile robots. They fired dozens of missiles at them, but with Shadow in front using Chaos Spears, the robots weren't able to hit their targets. Shadow, followed by Knuckles, reached the crowd first, chopping down one right after the other. Rouge and Amy were about to reach them too, when Rouge suddenly grabbed Amy and lifted into the air.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, startled at the bat's choice of strategy.

"I'm gonna fly you in so you can give Sonic some help," Rouge said.

Amy's face brightened just then and she said, "Oh thank you!"

Rouge smirked at the young girl, but then looked forward to see some of the machinegun robots where Sonic was start firing up at them.

"Whoa! Might be a rough ride!" Rouge said as she began to weave around, trying to avoid the bullets.

Amy looked down at the crowd of robots, hoping the bat carrying her over would be able to make it in and out alright.

However, at that moment, Rouge felt her hand grazed closely by a bullet, and she jumped from the pain.

Amy's hand slipped and she cried out, "AHH!"

Amy then fell from Rouge's hands and began to fall towards another group of robots, these ones having hammers themselves.

Amy looked down at them and saw this, and she said, "First I can't even go help Sonic, but now I have to fight hammer robots?! Then these guys better be ready to get SMASHED!"

Amy fell the rest of the way with her hammer pointed downward, ready to pound these robots. She came down like a meteor and cut through one with her sheer speed from falling. Then, the other hammer robots saw her, her eyes filled with anger and determination, and she said, "Who's first?"

The robots began to charge her, but she quickly brought her hammer up and started doing an attack she had been practicing. She spun around with her hammer outstretched, and she made herself go fast enough to be like Rouge's drill. As the hammer robots tried to swing their hammers and hit Amy, they were suddenly deflected and had their hammer smash themselves in the head. One by one, the robots fell from their own attack, until the others backed up in alarm.

Amy stopped spinning and looked at the rest of them, smiling confidently and saying, "That's what I thought."

Meanwhile, Shadow and Knuckles finished up with the remaining missile robots and looked towards Amy, who was behind another line of robots. They were more of the flying spear robots from earlier. The two charged at them, but we're frustrated when many of them took off into the sky away from them.

Tails had been looking around for a section of robots to fight, when he saw these robots lifting off over Knuckles and Shadow's heads.

"The skies are mine!" Tails said, now flying the X-Tornado at them.

Tails began firing missiles and lasers at full speed again, taking out about a dozen robots quickly. The remaining robots turned and saw the jet firing at them, and they charged towards Tails.

"Better kick things up!" Tails said, pushing a button to activate a special cannon he had just installed, one that fired a continuous laser that could only cut metal.

As the robots drew closer, Tails moved the laser around and sliced through them easily, taking down more and more. Now, there were only 3 left. He hit the first one with the laser, but then the second one flew out of the way of it and threw his spear at that moment.

"UH OH!!" Tails yelled as the spear zoomed right for the laser on the top of the X-Tornado. Before Tails could move the laser to burn up the spear, it pierced it and destroyed it. Just before it had, Tails had cut right through the robot that had thrown the spear, but then, the last one now raced towards him and was right in front of the X-Tornado.

"AHHHHH!!" Tails screamed as the robot brought back its spear to put an end to Tails, when all of a sudden, a beam of energy went through its head, making it explode.

Tails turned his head as debris flew past the plane, and then the fox looked up again. He saw that ahead of him, it was Mecha Sonic who had fired the laser from his eyes, but had missed his original target, which was Unlimited.

Unlimited smirked at Tails, who smiled and nodded. The teen then turned back to Mecha Sonic and said, "That's was a fortunate move for Tails. I thank you on his behalf."

Mecha Sonic shouted, "I've had ENOUGH of your smart mouth!"

The robot then suddenly rolled into his own deadly razor ball and charged Unlimited. Like Unlimited had done against Sonic, he disappeared just as Mecha Sonic tried to hit him. Each time, Mecha Sonic would change course and race towards Unlimited, who was floating somewhere else.

Unlimited smirked as Mecha Sonic tried a third time, and he brought up his hand towards the robot.

This time, when the robot was upon the teen, he felt himself suddenly stop totally dead.

"WHAT?!" Mecha Sonic yelled from within his rolled up shell.

He unrolled to see that Unlimited had caught Mecha Sonic by one of this blades, without getting so much as a single cut.

Unlimited smirked and said, "That was a fair try, but you'll need to do better than that."

Unlimited suddenly let go and disappeared, reappearing behind Mecha Sonic and kicking him hard in the back. Then, Unlimited began to hit Mecha Sonic across the sky, teleporting around to get in Mecha Sonic's path each time he hit him in a new direction.

Unlimited did this fifteen times in a row in under a minute, and Mecha Sonic was angry but couldn't gain his balance enough to stop and attack Unlimited.

Finally, however, Unlimited ended the streak by doing a front flip and bringing down a thunderous kick to Mecha Sonic, sending him down to the ground in no time flat.

The robot fell towards the robots that had been firing machineguns at Sonic. Fortunately, Sonic wasn't around where Mecha Sonic crashed landed, and the robot hit the ground and made a crater 50 feet wide, destroying many of the gunner robots and making many more fall to the ground.

Sonic had been running through a different tangle of robots when he saw the explosion nearby.

"Whoa! Looks like someone finally took out some of these things!" Sonic exclaimed.

He ran towards the dust and smoke from the explosion, and was nearing the center when he was blown back by a massive gust of wind.

"WHOA!!" Sonic yelled as he flew backwards.

Then, to double the wind, Mecha Sonic yelled and charged up his body. The wind was so forceful, the remaining gunners that Sonic was now flying towards suddenly lost balance and shot each other when they aimed for Sonic.

The blue hedgehog saw this and turned into a spinball, flying towards the last few, which still didn't regain their balance from the wind. He shot through them, finally ending his running for survival.

"Whew! I didn't know if I'd ever get out of that!" Sonic said to himself.

Then, Sonic turned back to Mecha Sonic, who was glaring menacingly up at Unlimited, who was now descending between Sonic and his robotic counterpart.

Unlimited landed and said to his opponent, "So, have you understood my power yet?"

Mecha Sonic growled, absolutely irate from the teen seemingly toying with him.

Sonic tried to see what would happen next, but then he heard grinding behind him. He turned only in time to see a half a dozen spike ball robots about to take him down.

"Uh oh!" Sonic said, and he rolled into a spinball himself and took off, getting an idea.

Unlimited wasn't watching, but he smirked with a hidden knowledge.

Mecha Sonic saw this and then saw Unlimited walking towards him.

The robot, now angry beyond belief, roared, "I'LL WIPE THAT SMILE RIGHT OFF YOUR FACE!!"

The robot blasted off and rocketed at Unlimited, charging up an energy blast and getting ready to fire it in Unlimited's face, the teen still calmly walking towards the approaching Mecha Sonic.

Meanwhile, Sonic was racing to reach Unlimited first, knowing that he had to get there before Mecha Sonic fired.

Unlimited then stopped and put his hands to his sides, waiting.

Mecha Sonic flew up right into Unlimited's face and yelled, "DIE FOOL!!"

But at that moment, Sonic unrolled from his spinball and grabbed Unlimited's hand. Unlimited smirked right into the glowing energy in his face.

Mecha Sonic then unleashed the massive attack, which screamed through where Sonic and Unlimited were and rushed towards the spike robots. They had no chance to change direction as Mecha Sonic's blast swallowed up them all, disintegrating each of them with no problem. Finally, the blast exploded in a massive flash of light, creating an orb of light hundreds of feet high and across.

Mecha Sonic glared at the light as Eggman, who was just barely out of the way of the attack, looked on in anger seeing that Mecha Sonic had nearly killed him too.

"Watch where you're firing that thing!!" Eggman shouted.

Meanwhile, the others who had just finished off the remaining robots they had been fighting saw the explosion fill the entire area where Sonic was.

Amy turned and saw this and realized that Sonic had been over there, and her face filled with horror as she dropped her hammer.

She thought, in a stupor, _He was over there... he... couldn't be... Please, no..._

She then broke down and yelled to the light, "SONIIIIIIIIC!!"

Amy dropped to her knees at that moment, her eyes streaming with tears, as she sobbed loudly.

Knuckles, Rouge and Shadow from the ground and Tails from the sky saw the explosion and were just as horrified as Amy, who was thinking, _You said we'd be together at the end of this fight, Sonic... Now... we'll never..._

Amy only continued to cry, her sorrowful, pain filled eyes averted from the light from the explosion, which now faded away, and Mecha Sonic could be seen. He looked at the massive crater he had made, which had subsequently destroyed the last of Eggman's army of robots.

Mecha Sonic, however, only began to laugh maniacally as he said, "HA! There's no one in the universe that can stop me now!! I'll rule over everything with no equal!!"

The robot continued to laugh at the apparent demise of Sonic and Unlimited, gloating over his victory.

Meanwhile, Eggman looked towards Mecha Sonic and the remaining Sonic team members and said, "Well, I might be rid of Sonic and that Unlimited kid, but now it looks like I'd better get out of here before Mecha Sonic tries to do away with me."

And with that, the cowardly Eggman scurried away in his pod, unbeknownst to Mecha Sonic.

The robot only continued to gloat over the hole in the ground, yelling, "You thought you so high and mighty, Unlimited, didn't you?! Well, you're not much now!! HAHAHAHA!!"

The robot did this for longer than was expected, the other Sonic team members waiting, knowing they would have to fight this demon. However, at that moment, everyone but Amy, who was still staring at the ground as her hot tears of pain fell, saw something descending from the sky a ways behind Mecha Sonic. It reached the ground and stood there, looking at Mecha Sonic.

"Is that-" Rouge began, but suddenly, even more surprisingly, Unlimited appeared from nowhere behind Mecha Sonic and reeled back. He then kicked and hit Mecha Sonic so hard that the robot flew and skidded the entire crater that he had just created.

"WHOA! LOOK!!" Knuckles exclaimed, talking about Unlimited.

However, when Amy lifted her eyes, she saw the other figure instead, who was turning towards her at that moment.

At first, the pink hedgehog thought she couldn't trust her tear filled eyes, but when she blinked and looked again, there standing ahead of her was Sonic, perfectly alright.

Then, ironically, Amy began to cry even more, but not for pain, but for joy. She jumped up and called, "SONIC!!"

Sonic had looked to her and his eyes gleamed at the sight of her. Amy then broke into a run, running to Sonic as fast as she could.

Sonic then began to run to her as well, not as fast as he could, but still fast. Amy ran with her arms outstretched to Sonic, and when they met, Sonic swept her into his own arms and twirled with her, both of them in each others' arms.

Amy began to laugh from the joy she was feeling inside, and when they spun around with each other once, they looked into each others' glistening eyes.

Amy then said breathlessly, "We did it, Sonic! We made it!"

Sonic's soft eyes soothed Amy as he said, "You believed we would, Amy, and I did too!"

Amy's eyes streamed with tears even more as she held Sonic in her arms as he held her, and they brought their faces together and kissed, just for a moment, and then they embraced closer, holding each other to feel the warmth from the one that they loved so much.

"I was so worried Sonic," Amy said, her voice nearly gone from her tears.

Sonic comforted, "It's alright Amy. I'm here with you."

Sonic put his hand gently on the back of her head and held her against his chest, feeling her soft breath on him as she cried more, and he said, "I love you Amy."

Amy, her voice cracking, rasped, "I love you, Sonic."

The other Sonic team members walked up to the loving couple as Tails from overhead began to land the X-Tornado. Knuckles was just barely smiling, Shadow just looked on indifferently, and Rouge smiled and said, "Isn't that cute?"

Finally, the two hedgehogs loosened their hug to gaze into each others' eyes again. Their love was so strong, nothing could ever break it.

As Tails walked up from the X-Tornado, the Sonic team then all looked around at Unlimited, who was standing at the edge of the crater where Mecha Sonic had attacked.

Tails asked Sonic, "How did you two make it out of there like that?"

The team looked at Sonic, curious as well, and he said, "It was easy. When I grabbed ahold of Unlimited's hand, he teleported us out of there right away!"

"That's good, but he could've gotten you out of there earlier than he did," Amy then said, her voice and normal attitude returning.

"Well, now the question is," Shadow then spoke for once, "Can he finish off Mecha Sonic?"

They all looked at Unlimited, who was now watching Mecha Sonic rise from the ground and face Unlimited.

The teen looked at the robot, Unlimited's face serious as the robot said, "You, boy, will die. I swear it."

Mecha Sonic then lifted his arms and began to charge up his body again, using the Chaos Emeralds' max power. His energy rocketed up again, and his body began to shine even more, his appearance once again frightening. Finally, Mecha Sonic yelled loudly and was charged into his fiery red aura again.

Mecha Sonic glared with a deadly look on his face as Unlimited lowered his arms, preparing to fight to the end.

Then, the robot yelled, "NOW DIE!!"

The robot launched himself at Unlimited, who waited as the robot closed the gap between them insanely fast. Then, just as he approached the teen, the two disappeared.

The Sonic team looked on in shock, but then lifted their eyes to the sky as they felt quakes coming from it. All over the sky, shockwaves from the hits the two were dealing to each other shook the air. The ground beneath them shook and cracked, but didn't totally rip apart thanks to the infinity symbol on the ground a distance away, which was glowing from the immense output of power.

Up in the sky, Unlimited threw a punch, which was dodged by Mecha Sonic, who spun and tried to kick the teen. Unlimited brought up an arm and easily blocked it, and then tried to axhandle the robot. Mecha Sonic threw his arms into the air and blocked it, releasing more energy, and then, Unlimited yelled and his body was suddenly surrounded by a black ball of energy, which pushed Mecha Sonic backwards.

The robot tried to break through the shield, but then got slammed in the head by a heavy fist from Unlimited. The robot flew back and then tried to return the punch. However, the robot then missed his punch and was elbowed hard in the back. Then, Unlimited brought his arm back up and slammed him down hard, sending Mecha Sonic falling like a lead weight to the ground. Mecha Sonic stopped just above the ground, but then was kicked in the back again.

Mecha Sonic flew forward, but then turned and tried to punch Unlimited with both of his fists. Unlimited quickly raised his hands and blocked both fists, but then was surprised by the headbutt Mecha Sonic dealt thereafter.

While Unlimited reeled back, Mecha Sonic took to the air again and stopped high above the ground.

Unlimited regained his composure and looked up into the sky to where Mecha Sonic looked like he was gathering his energy.

"Uh oh, what's he doing?" Sonic wondered out loud.

Amy stood close to Sonic as the rest looked up into the sky in worry.

Then, the robot yelled, "You've fought well, Unlimited! But now, it's time I finish this!"

Unlimited stood his ground and watched the robot carefully, knowing he was about to do something drastic.

Mecha Sonic then raised his hands and put them together, turning his body and looking at Unlimited as he cupped his hands away from the teen.

"I was so impressed with that move you used on me the other day..." Mecha Sonic began.

Then, at that moment, energy began to build in Mecha Sonic's hands, and Unlimited and the rest saw that it was a bright blue energy that Mecha Sonic was building.

Only Unlimited knew what Mecha Sonic was about to do, and the robot affirmed this by saying, "I just had to have it for myself!"

Then, the blue energy became brighter, and the robot cackled maniacally again.

"NOW! PREPARE TO DIE TO YOUR OWN ATTACK!!" Mecha Sonic roared.

The robot charged up a bit more and then yelled, "KAA MEE HAA MEE..."

At that moment, Unlimited knew what he had to do to silence this menace once and for all. Suddenly, Unlimited blasted into his thrashing black aura again, and prepared as the robot buckled down.

Finally, Mecha Sonic yelled blastingly loud, "HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

The blue beam of intense energy rocketed right for Unlimited, who now just put his hands out to the sides.

Sonic and the others saw this, and Sonic yelled, "HEY! Don't just stand there!!"

Unlimited called to them, "Don't worry, it's not as it seems."

Then, Unlimited smirked and his aura began to writhe unusually. Across the battlefield, the infinity Seal suddenly glowed incredibly white.

Unlimited's aura then began to feed into his hands, and he looked up at the approaching wave of energy.

At that moment, Unlimited formed a black ball of electrified energy in one hand and said, "Death..."

Then, in the other, an equal ball of energy formed and he continued, "Matter..."

Finally, the teen thrust his hands together in front of himself and pointed it right at Mecha Sonic's attack, yelling, "BLAST!"

Suddenly, lightning and wind emanated from all around Unlimited, as his black aura thrashed violently until it finally blasted out in all directions, extending around the teen like a wall.

The beam of energy came closer and closer, and the Sonic team watched tensely, scared about what their ally was about to do.

Finally, just as the beam of energy was about to bury Unlimited, he yelled with ear-shattering volume, "FIIIINALLLLLLLLLLLL!!"

At that moment, a beam of energy 10 times as big as the beam Mecha Sonic had fired erupted from Unlimited's hands, colored black and electrified, as Unlimited stood encased in his almost destructive black aura of lightning.

The beam blazed unbelievably towards Mecha Sonic's, which now seemed like nothing compared to the awesome attack that Unlimited was using.

The Sonic team looked on in near denial, thinking that they were in a dream seeing such a spectacular attack.

Finally, the two beams collided with enough force to crack the planet, which was held together by the Seal Unlimited had placed. The beam that Mecha Sonic had used only just stayed together, but it was pushed back like nothing.

"WHAT?! BUT HOW?! IT WAS YOUR ATTACK!!" Mecha Sonic yelled as the black energy charged at him with ferocity unmatched.

Unlimited from below, just before he powered up a little more to finish off the robot, smirked as he called up to him, "But it wasn't my best."

Mecha Sonic looked down and attempted in vain to push back the insane blast that rushed at him now.

"NO!! NO!!" Mecha Sonic tried, pushing every drop of energy through him to power his own attack.

Unlimited smirked once more, as he brought his hands back a little and thrust them forward once more, increasing the beam he was firing to more than 12 times the size of Mecha Sonic's

Finally, Mecha Sonic watched as his beam died in that instant and he was swallowed in the din of the massive attack.

Mecha Sonic looked down as his supposedly invincible body, powered by the Chaos Emeralds, began to burn and deteriorate from the energy. His eyes reflected horror as he watched his body disappear in front of him, disintegrating his arms and legs within seconds.

Finally, as Mecha Sonic felt the energy tearing away his head, he yelled, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

His head and torso were completely wiped out, and the last thing to be burned to nothing was the eye, which looked down at the fighter whom all of reality knew was, without a doubt, the most powerful fighter ever.

Finally, the sky was cleared of all the energy at once, as the energy compressed at that instant into a point the size of a marble and exploded. The rocking explosion spread black across the sky as smoke filled the place where Mecha Sonic had been floating. The ground shook hard, but didn't fail to stay together, and soon, the quakes subsided as the energy from Unlimited's attack finally began to disappate.

The Sonic team looked up into the sky once more to see the black energy fading away, returning the sky to its blue splendor. Finally, the smoke cleared and they all saw, to their immense relief, that Mecha Sonic no longer existed in this world.

"Alright!" Sonic cheered and the others, besides Shadow, followed suit.

Unlimited lowered his arms, looking into the sky where he had just defeated the menacing Mecha Sonic, and closed his eyes, knowing that one more evil was now removed from reality.

Then, he turned at the sounds of the Sonic team's cheers, and he smiled.

The team approached him then and Sonic said, "Wow! Mecha Sonic had no chance against you! That was incredible!"

"If you hadn't been here, I don't think any of us would've made it," Knuckles told the teen.

"Thank you so much for helping us!" Amy added.

Unlimited smiled at all of their gratitude, but then, all of it was wiped away in an instant as his face turned suddenly serious and angry.

They saw this as Unlimited closed his eyes, and Sonic asked, "What is it?"

Unlimited, however, didn't have to respond, as Amy cried out, "HEY! Look at the sky!!"

The team looked up to where Mecha Sonic had been and saw, to their terror, that the sky was now turning deep red as black clouds began to form.

Unlimited then said, his eyes still closed, "I will never stop until you are dead, Infinite."

The teen then turned to look into the roiling sky, which now thundered and boiled with evil as the red sky began to swirl.

_I've fought too hard with these good beings to let you take it all away!_ Unlimited thought, his aura suddenly pumping up at that moment as he glared into the sky.

The threats of Eggman and Mecha Sonic are gone, but now, Unlimited and the Sonic team face a new one: the most dangerous being ever conceived!

Preview for next chapter: The Second Cataclysm: Unlimited and the Sonic team witness the horrifying arrival of the evil form of Unlimited, Infinite! The deadly foe approaches the Sonic team with one goal in mind: Destroy everything, kill everyone. Can Unlimited stop Infinite by himself? Or will he need some help from the power source that brought him here in the first place? Find out in the next installment of Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	8. The Second Cataclysm

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 8: The Second Cataclysm

As the Sonic team and Unlimited stared up into the red sky that was filling with black clouds, they prepared to face an opponent of such evil that it would make Eggman look like a saint.

Unlimited stared up at the sky and thought, _I was almost certain, when I used the Seal Break on myself, that I would fuse you back into my body. But I see that's not the case..._

Now, the lightning began. At first, there was only small flashes of it, barely visible in the daylight. Then, it became stronger, brighter, creating bolts that stretched all across the sky, striking the ground, searing the air around itself.

Finally, the clouds began to swirl around one circle in the sky, ominously signaling the approach of this ultimate evil.

Sonic was held transfixed by this display, as the others, including Shadow, were, and Sonic said, "I never realized how awful he'd really be."

Unlimited said, without turning, "Don't worry. He's just doing this to intimidate anyone who doesn't know his level of power. Although... he truly is stronger than any being on this planet, I'm sorry to say..."

Some of the Sonic team growled at this mention, but then they looked up to see that the circle of red sky was now contorting with electricity and black energy.

"He approaches..." Unlimited said in a low voice.

Indeed, the sky opened in a demonic fashion, as dark energy and electricity poured from the sky. This energy fell to the ground and hit, but no sound came from it. It just continued to pile up on the ground before the Sonic team and Unlimited, the energy resembling a bubbling pile of toxic sludge.

"Ugh, gross," Rouge commented.

Shadow, however, understood at that moment how horrible this situation was.

"It can't be!" Shadow exclaimed.

The others looked at him and Tails asked, "What is it?!"

Shadow's eyes widened with true fear, as he stared at the menacing pile, which only grew larger.

"All of that... It's... pure evil!" Shadow stammered through gritted teeth.

"Pure evil?!" Sonic asked in alarm, looking back at the pile quickly.

But when they looked back, they noticed something odd, and Amy echoed their thoughts, "Hey, doesn't it look smaller now?"

Unlimited affirmed this by saying, "It is. He is beginning the final stage of his interdimensional travel. He is forming his body. All of that evil will be compressed into him. He will have no qualms about killing all of you on sight, so get ready!"

With that, the Sonic team members immediately took up fighting stances, getting ready to fight against this horrible evil.

Now, the pile of evil rose into the air once most of it had folded in on itself. Soon, it roiled and seethed before the fighters, and it began to change shape.

Even though they were frightened, the Sonic team did not budge from their positions, ready to face this demonic opponent head on.

Now, the black shape began to stretch out, creating the beginnings of arms and legs. The four branches of the mass extended outward, until they stopped and suddenly smoothed and stiffened. The body of the black energy was smoothed out and became real, and then, the final piece, the head, came into being.

It was then, to the fright of Amy, Tails, and Rouge, that two blood red, monstrous eyes appeared suddenly on the head of the being. Then, a maniacal smile stretched out from its face.

Finally, to finish the incredible formation, the black energy suddenly thrust its nearly-formed arms out to the sides and released a black ball of energy, extending out in all directions and tearing up the ground like paper.

"LOOK OUT!!" Knuckles yelled, but before any of them moved, Unlimited put his arms up to the ball and instantly stopped it. The infinity Seal on his forehead suddenly flared white hot, showing the immense power that Unlimited was exerting to stop that energy.

Finally, the ball stopped trying to expand, and it faded out, leaving the Sonic team and Unlimited facing the horrible fighter before them.

In an insane, demonic voice that mixed Unlimited's voice with that of a deep, devilish voice, the being spoke, "It's been a long time, Unlimited. TOO long. Heh heh heh..."

The Sonic team now understood why Unlimited was cautionary to them about this fighter. He looked and seemed the same as Unlimited, but his clothes had red streaks all over them, as if he had just committed some brutal, bloody murder. His body seemed more tensed up than Unlimited's as if he was about to go ballistic at any second. But what really got them was his face: He had bulging veins all over his smiling, insane face, and his twisted-looking red eyes seemed too large for their sockets, pushing out from them like a zombie's.

Unlimited answered the monstrous being, "If I never saw you again, it'd be too soon Infinite."

Infinite snickered at Unlimited's calm mood, and said, "Why so serious?! You should have a little..."

Infinite paused and held up one hand, pointing it at the sky, and Unlimited waited for what he would do.

"FUN!!"

At that moment, energy erupted from his hand and soared into the sky. Then, it came back down and began to rain upon all of the fighters.

"LOOK OUT!!" Sonic yelled, grabbing Amy near him and bracing her, as they all tried to block the incoming attack.

However, Unlimited, surprisingly, just smirked and his eyes glinted only slightly.

Then, as all of the energy blasts came down, they exploded far above the fighters. They looked up when they heard the explosion but didn't feel anything.

"Why didn't they- WOW!!" Amy exclaimed as she and the others looked up at the energy shield that Unlimited had so easily conjured.

Unlimited smirked at Infinite, who looked irritated, but then smiled again and said, "So, you can block little rain drops like those? Well, how about a hunk of hail?!"

At that moment, Infinite, in no time at all, blasted an enormous blast, 8 feet in diameter, right at Unlimited.

"WHOA!!" Sonic exclaimed as he and the others got away from right behind the teen.

However, Unlimited only smirked again and spun, kicking the energy ball away from himself, right back at Infinite at that moment.

Infinite's smiling face suddenly turned to shock as the energy wave returned to him.

"BUT HOW!! NO!!" Infinite yelled, only just able to push the blast up into the air away from himself.

Infinite's eyes now suddenly contained fear, as he glared at Unlimited.

The teen now looked at his evil counterpart and said, "Well, it looks like my sacrifice in the other dimension wasn't for nothing."

Infinite tried to stay calm, although not doing too well, as he yelled, "What do you mean?! I'm as strong as I ever was!"

Unlimited chuckled at Infinite's obvious fear, and the teen said, "It doesn't appear that way to me. I see now."

"SEE WHAT?!" Infinite roared, angry beyond belief but only trying to mask the unrelenting fear in himself.

The Sonic team looked up in surprise, realizing that something must have happened to Infinite before they had learned about him.

Unlimited smiled in somewhat relief and said, "When you and I fought before, we had the same amount of power because we had the same percentage of good or evil in our body. I was 100 good, and you were 100 evil."

Infinite growled, his eyes looking like they would burst from his head at any moment from the pressure, and Unlimited continued, "When I used the Seal Break on myself to destroy you, I did it thinking that I'd fuse you back into my body, destroying you for good."

"HA!! THAT DIDN'T WORK DID IT?!" Infinite shouted, trying to find any footing for his confidence.

However, his face fell again as Unlimited only laughed, and said, "No, it didn't, but I didn't say it was a total failure."

Infinite said nothing, and his fright only continued to mount as Unlimited revealed the secret to Infinite's loss of power.

"It looks like you are no longer 100 evil," Unlimited told him.

Infinite's bulging eyes, if it was possible, pushed further from their sockets as he was told the truth he had been fearing.

Unlimited continued, "I knew my restraints on myself weren't as powerful. I must've reabsorbed about 15 of your evil. It isn't the best thing that could've happened to me, but one thing's for sure. You are now nothing compared to me."

Infinite yelled, "I WILL SHOW YOU!! THERE IS NO WAY I'M WEAKER THAN YOU NOW!!"

At that moment, Infinite screamed at Unlimited at blinding speeds, throwing his fist forward and trying to land a punch on Unlimited. However, Unlimited easily grabbed Infinite's fist and pulled the enemy to the teen's face.

Infinite stared wide-eyed and scared out of his mind at Unlimited, who smirked and said, "I'm afraid there is a way."

Then, Unlimited brought his leg back and kicked Infinite right in the stomach, still gripping his fist. The evil twin's knees buckled and he fell to one knee, coughing up blood and spit. The twin tried to pull his hand free of Unlimited's vice grip, but then had it crushed by Unlimited.

"AHHHH!!" Infinite yelled out, pulling hard against the ground to wrench himself free.

"LET ME GO!!" Infinite roared, his eyes wild.

Unlimited smirked and said, "As you wish."

Unlimited let go, but then added to Infinite's pain by doing a front flip and kicking Infinite right in the face, sending him sailing through the air and skidding to a stop on the ground once again.

Infinite rose up from the ground and thought, _I've got to take the evil out of him so I can return to full strength._

Infinite then raised his hand up in front of himself and, as Unlimited had done so often, snapped his fingers.

Sonic saw this and said, "Hey, Unlimited, you think we should get involved yet?"

Unlimited responded, "Not yet, his threat has fallen short. It looks like I might not need to leave."

"Alright!" Sonic said, although at that moment, they heard Infinite yell, "Have your fantasies while you can! 'Cause now, I'm taking back my last 15!"

Unlimited looked quickly back at Infinite, whose snapped fingers emanated dark smoke, which flew at Unlimited and try to envelop him. It began to cover Unlimited quickly, and Infinite yelled, "HAHAHAHA!! NOW, I WILL REGAIN MY POWER, AND YOU SHALL DIE!!"

The evil smoke was hiding Unlimited from view, and the others looked on in worry. But just then, they heard a shout from inside the dark smoke and it instantly shredded and disappated as Unlimited stood in his black aura, his power not hidden anymore.

Infinite saw this in sudden fright again, seeming like a lost child at a strongman's contest. Unlimited looked at him and said, "You should know full well that our snapping ability cannot be used on an opponent of greater strength. You are a fool to have tried that."

Infinite stared dumbfounded, but knew that it was true. He had run out of ideas, as he quickly looked around, trying to find a way that he could tip the battle in his favor.

His eyes darted around, looking at the landscape and the other fighters, trying to find a way to win.

Then his eyes stopped, and at that moment, his smile faintly returned as he looked upon his ticket to victory, taking his eyes away after only a moment.

Unlimited looked at Infinite, his face serious once again, as he waited for Infinite to do something.

"Well, I might not be able to take my evil back..." Infinite said, as he raised his hand again, Unlimited waiting for his attack.

However, Infinite then only snapped his fingers again, and suddenly, the black smoke rushed past Unlimited and darted for the Sonic team, specifically...

"But I can still take anothers!!"

Unlimited turned fast to see, in realization, what Infinite was planning to do, for the smoke had begun to envelop...

"SHADOW!!" Sonic yelled from the front of the group once he saw his black and red counterpart attacked by the smoke.

"AH! GET THIS STUFF OFF ME!!" Shadow shouted, but it was to no avail, as the smoke spread all over his body, covering him completely as Unlimited had been.

Unlimited, at this moment, raised his hand to snap his own fingers when all of a sudden, he was kicked in the chest by Infinite, who appeared in front of him at that instant.

Unlimited flew a distance away, and regained his balance from the attack in only 3 seconds, but it was enough time for Infinite.

The smoke had already been absorbed by Shadow, and then Infinite yelled, "NOW!! BRING ME YOUR DARKNESS!!"

Shadow writhed on the ground, unable to stop his body from burning on the inside. He felt Infinite's dreadful power steal his energy, taking away from him a large part of his evil.

Shadow yelled, "AGGGGHHHHHHH!!"

Then, from Shadow's mouth, another mass of black ooze fell, to the disgust and horror of the others.

Shadow regained the ability to move, and stared at the ground where much of his own evil lay, like a sludge that had been staining his soul.

"COME TO ME, OH WONDERFUL EVIL!!" Infinite yelled.

Unlimited tried to intervene, but Infinite instantly teleported to right in front of Shadow as the evil mass jumped up, and the two collided and caused another black ball of energy to form.

It spread quickly, although all of the Sonic team got away in time, running to stand in front of Unlimited, who watched his evil form gain back what he had lost from the battle in the last universe.

Again, the ball of energy finally faded, and Infinite stood now before the fighters as an icon of death and evil. His body now writhed with red smoke, showing his infusion of new evil.

"SO potent! What magnificient evil! I must commend you, Shadow, on having such horrible feelings and actions!"

Shadow was still weak, and still was hardly able to think straight.

However, Unlimited stepped forward before the monster and said, "Well, you've consumed more Toxic evil than you originally had. But you failed to surpass my powers."

Infinite smiled devilishly and said, "But now, I'm as strong as you again! The same cycle is going to repeat once again! What do you say now?!"

Unlimited, however, smirked again, angering Infinite a bit, as the teen said, "I say, let's see if you can really beat us!"

The Sonic team stepped forward at that moment, and then, Shadow stood straight up and looked at Infinite. Shadow's eyes suddenly didn't look so threatening.

"Now that I've been rid of some of my evil, I now see everything much more clearly," Shadow said.

The others looked at him, realizing that Shadow might now have become more friendly than before.

"Now, I will make it my mission to fight alongside... my friends," Shadow said, looking to the others and giving, what seemed like, a very remote smile, "To destroy you."

All of the Sonic team then looked back at Infinite, affirming Shadow's mission.

Infinite now looked annoyed, and he yelled, "ENOUGH!! I'M TIRED OF ALL THIS!! PREPARE TO DIE!!"

Infinite then raised both of his hands and began to fire a huge barrage of energy blasts at them.

Sonic grabbed onto Amy, Shadow grabbed onto Rouge, at which she said, "Oh my, I like this Shadow," and the rest quickly ran as Unlimited flew towards Infinite.

The blasts came at insane rates, but Unlimited knocked them to the side as each one approached. Finally, he reached Infinite, who charged up a blast of energy instantly and fired it at Unlimited at point blank range.

The explosion rocked the ground hard, sending many of the fighters on the ground down. Sonic and Amy fell first and, while Sonic was still holding Amy, they looked up into the sky and saw the two black auras of Unlimited and Infinite fighting at a rate unlike any other.

The two hedgehogs stared at the incredible, unworldly powers of the two, as did all of the others, who knew there was no way to keep up against Infinite as they were.

Amy said worriedly next to Sonic, "Sonic, how can we even fight him if he's that strong?"

"I don't know, Amy, but we'll think of something," Sonic assured.

Then, as if he was heard, he said, "OW! I think I fell on a rock or something!"

Sonic and Amy stood up and only glanced at where Sonic had fallen. But a glance was all they needed.

"A CHAOS EMERALD!!" They cried in unison.

Sonic picked it up and Amy said, "Sonic, that's it!"

Sonic smiled at her and said, "You got that right!!"

Sonic then bolted across the field with Amy in one arm, Chaos Emerald in his other hand, and he ran over to the others, who had regrouped already.

"A Chaos Emerald?!" Tails gasped, as the rest looked at the shining red gem with awe.

"But how?!" Knuckles asked in exasperation.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sonic asked, "Mecha Sonic was using them, but then he was destroyed. The Emeralds must've fallen back to earth after he was gone!"

"Which means the others are around here, too!" Shadow finished for his now former rival.

"Now we just need to find them!" Sonic said.

"We'd better do it, fast, that Infinite guy looks like he's got Unlimited on the ropes," Rouge warned.

The six fighters looked back into the sky and saw that Unlimited was able to keep up with the newly powered-up Infinite, but only just, just like before.

Unlimited pulled back his fist and swung at unseen speed at Infinite, but the twin moved just enough to dodge it, returning with a spin and a kick. Unlimited dropped a little in the air to avoid this attack, and then raised his hands to quickly block the follow up axhandle. The shockwave from the contact was bone-rattling, as the ground beneath the two fighters quaked. Infinite had his hands thrown back as Unlimited stormed up at Infinite and rammed him head first. Infinite flew back, but on a dime, shot right back at Unlimited and punched him square in the face. Unlimited was turned away from Infinite as the evil being tried to flip and bring down a merciless kick. However, Unlimited disappeared at that moment and appeared behind Infinite, who turned at that moment to punch Unlimited's own fist. Another rocking quake issued, and the Sonic team below found it hard to stay standing.

"Come on! We gotta get the Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic told them.

They all nodded and took off in different directions, looking everywhere for the other six Emeralds. The shockwaves continued from above as Unlimited brought a heavy knee to Infinite's stomach, who disappeared after and nailed Unlimited in the back with a kick.

On the ground, the Sonic team looked, and it would be Tails who would be the next to find a Chaos Emerald. As he ran in one direction, scanning the ground for any glittering, one of the shockwaves broke the ground he was standing on.

"AHH!" Tails cried out as he fell to the ground on his face. However, as he picked himself up after the quaking ended, he looked just a foot ahead of himself and saw...

"YES! Another Emerald!" Tails said excitedly, picking up the violet stone and running back the way he came.

Now, up in the sky, Infinite disappeared as Unlimited flew at his twin to kick Infinite in the chest. Unlimited looked up to see the twin looking down with a devilish look in his eyes, and then aimed his hands at Unlimited and began a massive barrage of energy shots. Unlimited took off, sensing where the others on the ground were so the blasts, which were all missing Unlimited as he went, wouldn't hit the others. Unlimited then extended both of his hands at Infinite, extending his index and little fingers, and he said, "Let's see if you can move and shoot."

Unlimited then began firing thousands of small but powerful pellets of energy the size of tennis balls at Infinite, who saw them all coming with worry. He began to move too, still firing at Unlimited, who rose up into the air level with Infinite so he could avoid hitting the Sonic team. The sky was ablaze now with the thousands upon thousands of energy blasts, being unleashed from both of the incredible fighters. Explosions rang out from all over the sky like an incredible fireworks display.

The Sonic team on the ground saw this in awe, but kept looking for more Chaos Emeralds. Rouge was looking at it the most of all of them, and didn't even notice the silver gleaming stone that she passed. She was over 20 feet away when she noticed it beneath the fiery sky.

"What? OH!" Rouge exclaimed as she moved back in the other direction, taking the Chaos Emerald quickly.

Rouge looked at the stone, her jewel seeking eye returning, as she said, "Gosh, how I wish I could take this and leave. But I can't let them down. Especially if that maniac's gonna blow up the world or whatever."

So Rouge began to go back towards the other direction, towards Shadow, whose affinity for Chaos Emeralds let him instantly find two of the Emeralds.

Rouge and Tails returned to where they had been standing earlier, and Tails said, "Great, now we've got five!"

"Make that six," Knuckles said as he returned, proudly lifting another Emerald.

"Great, just one more!" Tails said.

Meanwhile, out farther away from the fight, Sonic and Amy searched around quickly, looking everywhere for the stone.

"See it, Amy?" Sonic asked.

"Not yet. I hope we find it soon," Amy said, her voice worried.

Sonic looked up at her and saw that she had stopped, her hands at her sides, almost in resignation.

"If we don't, Unlimited might not be able to win, and we'll..." Amy trailed off, her voice lost in the thoughts she wished with all of her heart she'd never live.

However, Sonic then suddenly approached Amy and took her hand, saying, "Don't worry Amy!"

Amy turned to him and saw his assuring smile, and she brightened, as Sonic continued, "We'll find that Emerald, and we'll win this fight!"

Amy took a step towards him but then stepped on something that was jutting up from the ground and slipped.

"AH!" Amy cried out, falling forward to Sonic, who saw this all too late and fell with her to the ground. Sonic caught Amy in his arms and fell on his own rear, and Amy said to him, "Sorry, Sonic."

Sonic gave her a warm smile and caressed her head to show he was alright if she was, but then looked to where she had been stepping and said, "Well, Amy, looks like falling into my arms was for the best."

Amy looked at him a little confused, but then followed his emerald green eyes to the emerald green stone on the ground.

"The Chaos Emerald!" Amy said in joy, picking up the stone while still in Sonic's arms.

She held it up between the two of them and they gazed at it with awe. Then Sonic looked to Amy's glistening eyes and said, "I promise you, Amy."

Amy looked to Sonic, her smile infectious and her heart filling, and Sonic continued, "As sure as I am that your eyes and this Emerald are both the same beautiful green..."

Amy's eyes began to water at his loving words, and he said, "I'm sure that we'll make it through this together!"

Amy's eyes widened in joy, and she breathlessly said, "Oh Sonic..."

Gently, the two brought their faces closer and touched their lips together, kissing for a moment, as they both held the Chaos Emerald and the other's hand. Finally, they broke apart, and Sonic and Amy could only gaze into each other's eyes.

"Let's show that guy that we'll never be separated," Sonic declared.

Amy said, "Yeah! Let's go!"

The two stood up and began to run back together with the Chaos Emerald in hand, and made it back to the others, who were now just watching Unlimited and Infinite duke it out.

The two fighters in the sky had now stopped firing energy at each other and now were just locked in an all-out back and forth flurry of punches.

Sonic and Amy approached the others, who turned around as they came up.

"Alright! Looks like we got them all!" Sonic cheered as he saw all the rest of the glowing Emeralds.

However, from up in the sky, Infinite had not been paying attention to the power levels on the ground, knowing there was no reason to if they were so weak. Now, however, he felt the power of all the Chaos Emeralds in one place, and his eyes shot to where they were. He didn't realize that another heavy fist was coming, and it pounded Infinite right in the head.

"AHHHH!" Infinite cried out from the crushing pain, and flew back a bit, but he still continued to stare at the Sonic team, who was preparing to use the Chaos Emeralds.

_Such an awesome power, here in this world?_ Infinite first thought in disbelief, but then a vicious smile crossed his insane face and he said, "Don't mind if I do!!"

At that moment, Infinite bolted at the Sonic team full blast, racing to take the Chaos Emeralds for himself.

Unlimited saw him going for it and knew he had to stop him, and he put two fingers in front of his head and instantly disappeared.

On the ground, the seven Chaos Emeralds were beginning to glow as the Sonic team tried to absorb their power, when Tails looked up and saw Infinite storming right for them.

"HEY! HE'S COMING RIGHT AT US!!" Tails yelled out, and the others quickly looked up and saw in terror that Infinite was zooming towards them at unbelievable speeds. However, it was at that moment that Unlimited appeared right between the Sonic team and Infinite, who raised his hand at that moment as Unlimited raised his own.

At the same time, the two fighters shouted, "DEATH MATTER BLAST!!"

At that moment, Infinite and Unlimited fired from their hands a massive ball of black electrified energy, which bounded towards the other and smashed into each other in the air. The clash of energy sent dust up in all directions and made the infinity Seals on Unlimited and the earth glow unbearably bright.

Unlimited held back Infinite with his blast, and he yelled to the Sonic team, "Absorb the power!! Use the Chaos Emeralds!!"

The Sonic team remembered instantly and they put the Emeralds into the center of their circle, and they began to glow and shine incredibly bright. Unlimited saw that they had begun, and he turned and raced up at Infinite, snapping his fingers. At that moment, a humongous explosion occurred where Infinite and Unlimited were as Unlimited smashed into his own Death Matter Blast. However, the shockwaves and quakes did not reach past a barrier that Unlimited put up just before he collided with the blast.

The smoke and quakes quickly subsided within the barrier, and Infinite stared through it to see if he had taken out Unlimited and the Sonic team. However, as some of the smoke cleared, he saw Unlimited floating before him, completely unharmed from causing his own blast to explode.

Infinite growled angrily, but then his bulging eyes became even more maniacal when he saw the Sonic team behind Unlimited.

Now, they were all glowing, their fur golden and surrounded by a gleaming gold aura. Infinite looked upon the Sonic team in fear, knowing that their power together was more to be afraid of.

Unlimited then said, "Isn't it incredible, Infinite? You actually were able to restore your evil to full, and now, you stand against an even more powerful force of good than you could ever combat."

Infinite stared in total disbelief, thinking that he must be seeing things. However, the Sonic team then rose up into the air and floated up besides Unlimited.

"You will never win, Infinite. Good... will always triumph over evil," Unlimited told his devilish twin.

The Sonic team has absorbed the power of the Chaos Emeralds and have joined Unlimited in the fight against the most destructive of evils. Will Infinite be able to hold his own against all seven fighters of good?

Preview for Final Chapter: The Decision: Unlimited and the Super Sonic team take on the demonic Infinite in an all-out fight to the end. The strength of good is indeed as strong as steel, but will it do the job against a force of evil as horrible as Infinite? Stay tuned for the final chapter of Unlimited: The Next Universe!


	9. The Decision

Unlimited: The Next Universe

Chapter 9 (Final): The Decision

The six golden heroes floated next to Unlimited, as all seven of them faced of them faced the destructive evil of Infinite.

Unlimited said to Infinite, "So, what do you think of these heroes now? Not so insignificant anymore, are they?"

Infinite could only stare fearfully at the seven fighters, the new six having gained immense powers.

"We might not be as strong as you, Infinite," Sonic told the dark being, "But together and using the Chaos Emeralds, we'll stop you, no problem!"

"Yeah! No one messes with our friendships!" Amy interjected.

The rest nodded their agreement, and Unlimited said, "So, Infinite, are you ready to fall to the power of good yet again?"

At that moment, Infinite's eyes bulged out from his head even more and threatened to burst, as his forehead formed many more thick veins. He growled low and demonically, and his aura suddenly reappeared, black and thrashing about, slicing the air, and he bellowed, "EVIL WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!! I'LL KILL EVERY ONE OF YOU AND DESTROY THIS PLANET!!"

But to show up his empty threat, Rouge then said, "Boy, this guy's a big mouth."

At that moment, Rouge shot at Infinite, going so fast, it seemed she had turned invisible, and suddenly, Infinite head jerked back as the pupils of his eyes faded out momentarily. Rouge reappeared having just kicked Infinite in the face, leaving the demon reeling.

"Wow, this power is something," Rouge said in awe of how hard she had hit Infinite.

"You think that's all you can do?" Knuckles then said from behind her as he suddenly rushed over to the bewildered Infinite and drew up his hands, then brought them down and crashed them into Infinite's chest, creating a quaking shockwave as Infinite plummeted to the ground and smashed through the earth, creating a crater 15 feet wide.

"My, what a strong, brave fighter," Rouge commented, and Knuckles said, "Save it."

At that moment, though, they all felt a sudden gust of wind push them back through the air and send dust and rocks flying around. They looked down to the crater again and saw Infinite standing on the ground, his aura cycling around his body like a tornado, as electricity poured out from him in all directions and perforated and burned the ground.

Tails then said, "Whoa! He's angry now!"

Unlimited then warned, "Don't fool around anymore! It will take all of our best efforts to stop him once and for all!"

Most of them responded, "Right!" and they all dispersed, trying to approach Infinite from a different direction.

However, Infinite, before any of the Sonic team could even get close to him, blasted up at raging speeds towards Unlimited, who saw this and barely blocked the ferocious punch that Infinite dealt out.

However, as Infinite tried to punch at Unlimited again, he found he hand stopped when he pulled it back. He turned to see that Sonic had already got to Infinite and grabbed his arm, saying, "Hey, I thought you were fighting all of us."

Then, Infinite was angered again, but the ensuing kick that he tried to bring up and hit Sonic with was blocked as well. Infinite looked down in fury to see that Amy had appeared next to Sonic, using her hammer to block the attack.

"No one hurts Sonic while I'm here," Amy said, her now red eyes blazing with anger at Infinite.

At that moment, Infinite's rage turned suddenly to pain as he was hit from behind by Unlimited, and while Infinite buckled over from the intense pain, Amy brought her hammer up and smashed Infinite in the head.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Infinite screamed as he once again was sent crashing to earth. But he didn't hit the ground until both Sonic and Shadow had shot by Infinite, nailing him on each pass sixteen times within the four seconds that it took Infinite to hit the ground.

The two hedgehogs stopped as Unlimited and Amy descended near them, looking down at the crater that they had made from the four-way combo. Then, Infinite yelled out again and sent a massive blast of energy screaming up at the four.

"Uh-oh!" Amy cried out, but was quickly whisked away from the trajectory of the blast by Sonic.

As the four flew out of the blast's path, they thought they were safe.

Amy, as she and Sonic flew in one direction, said to Sonic, "Thank you Sonic. I wish I could help you like that."

"What are you talking about? You just did a minute ago!" Sonic replied cheerily.

Amy smiled at her beloved Sonic, but then her face changed to panic as she noticed the blast that Infinite fired was homing in on them!

"Sonic! Behind us!" Amy cried, and Sonic turned his head to see the blast approaching them quickly.

"Here, Amy!" Sonic told Amy, as he turned her around in his arms so he was carrying her by her waist, her back to him as he brought her close to his body, "We'll make a spinball!"

"Right!" Amy affirmed, and the two suddenly began to spin fast together, creating a large, incredibly powerful spinball, which turned immediately towards the blast and crashed into it. Their power shattered the black energy and made it disappate easily.

The two stopped spinning after this, Amy still in Sonic's arms, and Sonic asked Amy, "Are you alright Amy?"

"Alright? That was the most thrilling thing I've ever done!" Amy excitedly replied.

Sonic smiled and said, "Then are you ready Amy?"

"Yeah, let's go!!" Amy said, and the two formed a spinball again, and rocketed towards Infinite, who had flown up at Unlimited again and was locked in a fight with him.

Unlimited was busy trying to punch Infinite when he saw the two hedgehogs approaching at blazing speed, and he smirked.

Infinite saw this only for an instant before Unlimited disappeared.

"HEY!! COME BACK AND FIGHT COWARD!!" Infinite roared at the air in front of him, not aware of the impending collision he was about to be a part of.

At that moment, Sonic pushed the two of them forward and they bashed into Infinite's back, making him howl, "AHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOHHHHH!!"

Sonic and Amy bounced off the being but kept spinning together, screaming back at Infinite at ultra-sonic speed. Infinite turned only to get nailed again, sent flying through the air towards Rouge and Knuckles, who appeared behind Infinite and either punched or kicked him in the back. Infinite was sent careening back towards Sonic and Amy, but before he got there, he was hit several times by both Shadow and Tails, who flew by at breakneck speeds and got in twelve hits until Infinite came at the Sonic Amy spinball, which suddenly broke apart. Sonic continued to hold Amy as she brought up her hammer, which was now enlarged to almost bigger than Infinite, and crushed the dark twin with the explosive swing.

Infinite was sent down brutally to the ground again, colliding and making another crater, this time over 30 feet wide.

Sonic looked over Amy's shoulder at her attack and told her, "That was spectacular Amy!"

"Anything to help you out, Sonic!" She replied, receiving a tender kiss from Sonic on the cheek, at which she visibly blushed.

But then, from the ground, they heard Infinite roar, "DEATH MATTER BLAST!!"

The tremendous black ball of electrified energy shot through the air like a train, heading right for Sonic and Amy! They saw the blast ahead of time and they were about to turn into another spinball when Unlimited appeared in front of them and charged up a blast in his own hand. Unlimited's body writhed with energy and lightning as his black aura fed into his own hand until Unlimited finally shouted, "DEATH MATTER BLAST!!"

Unlimited fired the unbelievable blast at Infinite's, locking them together when they hit in a shower of lightning. The two blasts were dead even, and Infinite continued to push back his energy attack as much as possible. However, as he did this, Shadow suddenly appeared behind him and began launching wave after wave of Chaos Spears at Infinite. Each round of spears struck him hard and made him yell, "STOP THAT YOU MANGY RUNT!!"

Shadow, standing far enough behind Infinite so he couldn't be caught up in Unlimited's attack, said, "That sounded like me... Before you took that evil from me..."

Shadow smirked as he brought up his hand and hurled a huge Chaos Spear at Infinite, which struck him in the back of the head and caused Infinite to break down and fall to one knee.

With that, Unlimited's Death Matter Blast fell towards Infinite at blinding speeds, hitting the demon head on and exploding into a dome of energy, causing a quake that made everyone on the planet begin to panic over. The quakes from the attack knocked Shadow down and threw off all of the others in the air besides Unlimited.

The black energy dome continued to tear away the ground it had hit, but the Infinity Seal did not give out, glowing as bright as the sun and keeping the world safe.

After a minute, the dome of energy finally faded away and left an enormous crater of dust and smoke where it had been, over 500 feet wide.

The fighters in the sky looked down into the crater, but didn't see Infinite inside of it.

Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles flew up next to the other three, and Tails asked, "Did you get him?"

Unlimited said, "Yes, but he's not out yet."

"What?! Even after all that?!", Sonic yelled out.

Unlimited nodded grimly, looking down at the crater intently.

Indeed, to affirm Unlimited's unbelievable claim, they suddenly heard a booming roar from within the crater, and suddenly, the entire crater filled with black energy and shot right to its edges and blasted skyward, creating a column of energy that extended into the clouds. The black, electrified energy encircled the deranged Infinite, who rose up within the slashing energy and glared menacingly at the six in the air before him.

"Now, I've had all I can stand! NOW, DIE!!" Infinite shouted as he suddenly drew his limbs to his body and began to absorb the energy around him.

Unlimited saw this and said to the others, "Get back. This is one move you can't compete against."

The others quickly moved behind Unlimited as Shadow on the ground bolted underneath Infinite to get over to the others too. Just as he had though, Infinite then screamed with resounding, shattering volume, "BE ENGULFED AND FEEL MY WRATH!!"

Then, the maniacal Infinite shot his arms and legs out to the sides and suddenly, from within Infinite, the energy he had been absorbing burst out from him, stretching out in all directions and screaming for Unlimited and the Sonic team.

The black ball of energy raced at them like a shockwave and Unlimited seemed to do nothing for awhile.

As it neared them, Knuckles yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!"

Unlimited, however, smirked again, and drew his limbs close to his body for only a second before pumping them out to his sides and creating his own shockwave blast of his own. Unlimited's, however, did not extend in all directions like Infinite's, but was only a wave of energy that raced forward to intercept Infinite's attack.

The two black energy fields neared and lightning poured from all the energy, as the two twins stared at each other from across the sky, until finally, the fields hit and caused humongous quakes to begin shaking the very air. Electricity shot out from the fields like a mass of exposed wires; flaring sparks and bolts of lightning licked the air and scorched the ground. However, the two black fields did not give way, as both sides fed their seemingly endless energy into their attack.

Unlimited seemed to be alright, but Infinite, on the other hand, was now beginning to show signs of weariness. The last few hits from before had tampered with his body and he couldn't focus his energy.

Slowly, the blast field from Unlimited edged closer to Infinite, who was beginning to panic as his own field came closer to swallowing him.

From behind Unlimited, the Sonic team watched this happen, and Amy said, "Yes! He's got him now!!"

Sonic added, "Looks like he's tired from all we did to him!"

Infinite, however, didn't miss this; and his rage boiled over again, and he bellowed, "I DON'T GET TIRED!!"

Infinite's blast then suddenly jerked back in the other direction as Infinite fed his blast more energy than he seemed he could.

Unlimited was especially aware of this and said, "You should know that you can't put that much energy into the Shockblast, Infinite. Now you've really ruined yourself."

Unlimited chuckled lightly as his aura flared up around himself again and easily reversed the direction of the two fields again, and now, Infinite saw the incoming waves as unstoppable.

"NO! NO!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Infinite screamed in agony as the waves consumed Infinite quickly, glazing over him with a thick, nearly opague sheet of black energy.

Then, Unlimited, seeing that the attack had now reached Infinite, suddenly clasped his hands together and the huge mass of energy covering Infinite suddenly compressed into a smaller sphere, only 10 feet wide.

"What are you doing?" Tails asked from behind, and Unlimited answered, "Our powers are far more devastating when compressed. He's about to get a painful reminder of that."

Then, at that moment, Unlimited raised one of his hands and snapped his fingers. In an instant, the sphere of condensed energy detonated, and it created a destructive shockwave that shot out immediately in all directions about to destroy everything that it passed over. However, Unlimited easily prevented this, keeping the mind-jarring explosion encased within another unbreakable shield. The Sonic team watched in awe as the immensely overpowered shockwaves bounced off the shield walls, trying to break out and wreak havoc upon the earth. However, they could not break free of the psychic prison, and the fighters for good watched as the calamity continued inside of the shield.

Finally, after an entire minute of the colossal exploding, the shockwaves finally slowed and ceased, leaving the inside of the shield as desolate and quiet as a ghost town. The Sonic team and Unlimited looked at the sphere for Infinite.

"So, is that freak finally gone?" Rouge asked, tired of fighting already.

Unlimited responded, "No, he's not."

They all voiced their disbelief, but a second look into the sphere was all they needed. Within the sphere, floating just where he had been before, was Infinite, whose clothes were now torn in many places and his body stressed and weakened beyond belief.

"Well, he's not gone," Shadow said, "But he's not going to be around much longer."

The shield was let down and the demon approached Unlimited very slowly, his body seeming like it would give out at any moment. The twin came dangerously close, right within Unlimited's reach, and they locked in a glare, their eyes burning into the other's soul.

Infinite then said to Unlimited, "You can't win here, you know that."

Unlimited, to the horror and confusion of the Sonic team, nodded and said, "Yes, I'm aware."

Sonic was the one to yell out, "What are you talking about?! You could take him down in one more move."

Infinite then smiled maniacally at Sonic and the others, saying, "That's true, but that's not where this ends. I will never be totally defeated. I will ALWAYS come back."

The Sonic team looked nervously on, but knew it to be true, from what Unlimited had been saying.

Infinite continued, his voice dripping with malice and evil, "The only way you'll be rid of me is if your friend here leaves you forever."

Infinite indicates Unlimited, who had entered this battle with this in mind.

Infinite then began to cackle wildly as he yelled, "But before I just give up, I think I'm gonna give it one FINAL shot!!"

Infinite then suddenly disappeared and reappeared far above Unlimited and the Sonic team, his hands extended out to his sides as his black aura suddenly returned and he seemed to find new energy.

"What?! He can still fight?!" Amy cried out, looking up in terror at the monster again trying to destroy them.

Unlimited told them, "Like myself, he can recharge his energy in very short amounts of time. We could keep this battle up forever if it were just the two of us fighting, but with your help, he can be stopped."

At that mention, Sonic floated forward and said, "What do you want us to do?"

Unlimited turned to all of them and said, "Why, what you always do when you get the Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic's red eyes widened with realization as he said, "Of course! But a six-way Chaos Control?!"

Unlimited nodded, and said, "All of you need to use Chaos Control and aim the beams towards him so they would collide in front of him. Then, I can put in the final part to this attack."

"RIGHT!!" The entire Sonic team said, and they got into line in front of Unlimited and they brought forth the power of Chaos Control to them, getting ready to fire it at Unlimited's word.

Up above, Infinite yelled, "You might beat me today, but I will forever come back. But until we get that far, let's see who wins the final showdown!"

Infinite's black, destructive aura then suddenly fed into both of Infinite's outstretched arms, and soon, his hands began to emit unearthly amounts of electricity, as Infinite created two balls of black matter in his hands.

Then, Unlimited raised his own arms and began to do the same, feeding his tossing aura into his hands to charge up his final attack.

"We're ready! Just say the word!!" Sonic yelled out to Unlimited, who floated behind them charging up his final move and waiting.

Unlimited stared up at the menacing monster as his own Infinity Seal, as well as the one on the ground, shone fantastically, brighter than the most intense star.

Then, up in the sky, they heard Infinite yell, "DEATH-"

Unlimited then yelled, "USE IT NOW!!"

Then, at that moment, the entire Sonic team thrust their hands forward at Infinite, and every one of them cried out, "CHAAAAAOOOOOSSSS COOOONNNNTROOOLLLLL!!"

The golden beams of energy shot forward at Infinite, getting ready to end the battle once and for all, when Infinite yelled, "-MATTER BLAST FINAL!!"

The monstrous, gargantuan beam of black energy erupted from Infinite's hands and roared at the six Chaos Control beams, which now seemed so far inferior to the colossal Death Matter Blast Final.

However, it was from Unlimited that they figured out how they would win, "IT ALL ENDS HERE!! DEATH! MATTER!! BLAST!! FINAAAAAALLLLLLL!!"

Over their heads, the Sonic team saw the unbelievable, impossibly humongous blast rocket through the air and accelerate at nearly lightspeed towards Infinite's attack and the Sonic team's Chaos Control beams.

_The timing... was perfect,_ Unlimited thought with a satisfied smile.

At the precise moment, Unlimited's Death Matter Blast Final shot right into the path of the six Chaos Control beams, joining all seven beams at their very tip. At that moment, the beams were suddenly all mixed together as the Sonic team felt power flow through them that they could never describe.

"What?! This power!!" Sonic yelled over the din of the massive blast.

"USE ALL OF YOUR POWER!!" Unlimited bellowed, and the six fighters all looked up again and forced forth this ultimate power, bulking up their original beams fifty-fold!

With the incredible increase, the seven fighters below joined their final attacks together to create a beam of unparalleled power: The Death Matter Chaos Blast!

The new beam shone with utter brilliance as the raw black energy mixed with the mystical golden energy, forming a beam of unbelievable size and power.

Infinite's own beam rushed towards this new beam, but it was instantly shattered by the unbeatable attack from the good fighters below.

Infinite watched as the final attack overtook him in a second, and he yelled out his final words, "IT NEVER ENDS, UNLIMITED!! NEVER!!"

The ultimate beam tore right through Infinite and he was disintegrated completely, his evil being obliterated in less than a second by the force of energy and the power of good.

The beam plunged into space above and disappeared behind the clouds and the atmosphere, leaving the world in peace now once more.

Below, the glowing Sonic team suddenly returned to their normal forms at that moment and they all passed out, their bodies and minds completely overtaxed by the immense effort. However, as they began to fall, Unlimited, from above, smiled and snapped his fingers. Before any of them could hit the ground, they stopped, suspended in mid-air. Unlimited descended to the battle-scarred field and brought down the six overexerted fighters, laying them on the soft grass of the field.

Unlimited then snapped his fingers again and glittery light washed over them all, quickly refilling their bodies with energy.

Sonic and Shadow were the first to reawaken, who sat up and looked around, as Sonic said, "I didn't get to see the ending, what happened?"

"It's alright," Unlimited said from near Sonic, "It's over, Infinite is defeated."

Sonic turned to him and gave a thumbs up, saying, "Great! Glad to hear it!"

Shadow said nothing but simply stood up, looking into the sky where the beam that had destroyed Infinite still shone in the distance.

Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge all reawakened to see that the battle was won, but Amy remained unconscious.

Sonic saw this and quickly ran over to her, picking her up and cradling her head with one arm while holding her hand with the other, looking into her face with worry.

But then, Amy's breath deepened as she took a long draw of air, and she slowly opened her eyes to look into Sonic's, whose emerald green eyes gleamed with relief as she woke up.

"Sonic..." Amy whispered, looking into her blue lover's face.

"We did it, Amy. We made it," Sonic told her happily, his eyes not betraying his love for her as they began to water, sending glistening tears rolling down his face.

Amy's own eyes began to cry as well, as she sat up and wrapped her arms gingerly around Sonic's waist as he hugged her close to his body, the two of them silently crying with the happy fact that they didn't lose each other to the fight.

Then, after holding each other for several moments, they and the rest of the Sonic team looked up at Unlimited, who was floating above them looking into the sky where the battle had been won.

Tails asked from below, "So what happens now?"

Unlimited looked back down at the team and said, "You don't have to worry about Infinite again. I've come to a decision."

The fighters from below looked on in worry for what Unlimited was going to say, and the teen verified these fears when he said, "Tomorrow, long before Infinite is able to return to this universe, I will depart from this realm so that you may find peace from my problems."

Many of their faces dropped, as they were sad to see this teen, who was such a good friend and ally, have to leave just for their safety.

"Are you sure you can't stay longer?" Amy asked as Unlimited descended to the ground.

Unlimited smiled and said, "I could, but it's too dangerous. Infinite could return faster than I know, and I'm not going to let you all be hurt by him. I leave tomorrow to protect you from his evil."

The team seemed to understand, but they did not like it anymore than before. But then, Unlimited said to them, "Don't worry. I'll still be around for the rest of today."

Some of them smiled, and Tails said, "Then let's have a last party before you leave. At least your last memory here won't be of fighting."

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Sonic said, as the others nodded too.

"I'll even stick around," Rouge commented.

But then, from behind them, they heard another voice say, "You'll have to count me out."

They turned to see that Shadow had said this, and Sonic asked, "Why can't you come too?"

Shadow walked up to his former rival and said, "I have to find myself again. Without the evil that had pervaded my body, I no longer know what my life is about."

But then, Shadow did something that Sonic would've never suspected. He looked Sonic in the eyes, held out his hand, and even gave a nearly invisible smile.

"Here's where it starts..." Shadow said.

Sonic looked at Shadow for a moment, but then he smiled reverently and grabbed Shadow's hand, shaking it and restarting their troubled acquaintancy.

Shadow withdrew his hand and looked at Unlimited, saying, "I'll bid you farewell tomorrow."

And with that, Shadow, who still had a Chaos Emerald, said, "Chaos Control!"

Shadow disappeared then and left the rest of the Sonic team wondering what a good Shadow would be like.

Unlimited then said, "The power of the Toxic evil is strong. That's why I fight it so devoutly."

The others seemed to understand, and Unlimited thought to himself, _And I will destroy all the evil of reality. I swear it. Anything to finally put Infinite to rest._

Unlimited and the Sonic team went back to Chris's house later to have the last party for Unlimited's farewell. During the party, the Sonic team talked about the entire, massive battle that they had won with the others at the house.

There were some odd things that happened at the party. Tails walked by Amy with a glass of water and tripped over her shoe, spilling water all over Amy. Needless to say, Tails spent quite a lot of time running from Amy, who yelled, "Hey Tails, you missed my hammer!"

Tails was only able to avoid her by running to the room with the highest ceilings and flying into the air, out of Amy's reach. Amy glared at Tails for several minutes, until finally, she gave up the assault with, "You're lucky you can fly."

As Amy walked back to the party, Sonic was waiting for her. Sonic had only been scratching his head as his best friend ran from Sonic's lover, not sure what side he should help. But when Amy came back, he approached her and wiped her face with a napkin, saying, "Don't worry too much, Amy. He didn't mean to. Besides, it's just water."

Amy still seemed angry, but the smile that Sonic gave her melted her irritation away, and she smiled and said, "You're right... Thank you, Sonic."

When Tails cautiously came back, he saw Amy was not trying to pound him anymore and he said, "Amy, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"That's okay. It was an accident," Amy said, coming up to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. Tails smiled with relief as he looked at Sonic, whose smile no doubt told Tails who had saved his two tails.

Later on, Rouge was found trying to take a vase from the mansion by Knuckles, who said as she tried to lift the vase, "You're not planning to take that, are you?"

Rouge nearly screamed and dropped the vase, grabbing ahold of it quickly and turning to Knuckles, saying with her seductive charm, "Hey, gotta make a living, Knucky. And I'm doing it the best way I know how."

"Well you're not taking that vase if I can help it!" Knuckles said, trying to play the hero.

He rushed at Rouge at that moment, trying to grab the vase. However, the bat rose into the air to avoid him, but Knuckles just barely knicked the vase from her hands and it flew into the air and fell to the ground, shattering into thousands of pieces.

Rouge gasped and put her hands to her mouth, realizing that now, she was in trouble. Knuckles, as well, was in distress, as he scratched his head saying, "Great..."

However, their worry was dissolved when a level voice said, "That's nothing."

The two looked up at the voice and saw, with some relief, that it was Unlimited, who raised his hand and snapped his fingers, his eyes glinting ever so slightly.

The bat and echidna looked back at the vase on the ground, which was now enshrouded in light, and were astounded and awestruck as the vase shards circled in the air and began to reattach themselves. In less than 10 seconds, the entire vase was reformed, and it was sitting safely back on the table it had been on.

Rouge descended to the ground and looked at the floor in embarrassment, but Unlimited softly said, "Everyone has some vice. If you don't like it, you'll break it."

Rouge looked back at him, wondering how he could be so forgiving, but then she smiled and said, "Well, I'll try, but I'm not promising anything, hon."

Unlimited smirked, and turned and walked away from the two. Rouge turned to Knuckles, who only looked at her without any expression, and she said to him, "If I have to give up thieving, then I'll have to take up something else."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow and asked, "Like what?"

Rouge shrugged and said, "Chasing you sounds fun."

Knuckles shook his head and began to walk away, saying, "You're batty."

Rouge smiled at his attitude and said, "You know you want me."

Knuckles said, "Forget it, I'd rather be stuck in jail for the rest of my life."

Rouge wasn't put off by his comment, but, unbeknownst to her, Knuckles walked away with a cool smile on his face.

The rest of the party continued without incident, and Knuckles and Rouge decided to stick around for the night. Later, out on the roof of the mansion, Unlimited stood staring into the black night sky, enjoying his last few hours of the peaceful world.

_In a few hours, my unending quest continues. But I did not ask for this power to enjoy peaceful places. I will destroy all the evil of reality._

Unlimited's deep blue eyes scanned the dark sky, looking deep within the folds of reality, wondering where his power would take him next to fight. He was thinking this when Sonic came up on the roof and saw Unlimited was already there.

"Hey!" Sonic greeted the teen, who looked over and smiled. Sonic sat down on the roof and looked up at the sky with Unlimited for a few moments.

Then, the blue hedgehog asked, "So where ya gonna go when you leave?"

Unlimited continued to comb the sky for a moment as he pondered the question, and finally, he answered, "Wherever my power is needed the most now. I came here to test my power against a force like you and your friends, thinking that the greatest evil was defeated. But now that I know that I can't stop Infinite the way I originally thought, I have now no other reason to go throughout the different universes but to stop the evil in each universe. I must fight against every form of evil in reality until Infinite is the only shred of it left. Only then, will I be able to stop him once and for all."

Sonic looked at the teen who had just told him his massive mission, and Sonic said, "Man, that's tough. Are you sure you can't beat him any other way?"

Unlimited took a deep breath, his mind scattered in so many directions, and he said, "He has the same powers as me, and he is thriving off the evils of reality as I am thriving off the good. The only way to stop him is to make him all alone in a reality of good."

Sonic looked upon Unlimited with deep respect, now realizing what his life really was like. Then, he turned back to the sky and asked, "Do you think you'll ever be able to see us again?"

Unlimited smiled and said, "One day, I hope I can. I hope I can see all of the fighters that I fight alongside of after I leave them. I won't forget any of them."

"We won't forget you either."

It was a third voice that said this, as Amy mounted the rooftop to join Sonic, hearing Unlimited as she climbed up.

"Hey, Amy," Sonic cheerfully said as the pink hedgehog approached him, but then stopped to look at Unlimited.

Unlimited turned and smiled at Amy, who said, "You'll be in our hearts forever. You helped all of us win that fight that nearly killed us today. And..."

Amy stopped as she laid down next to Sonic, who took one of her hands, and she finished, "You brought Sonic and me back to each other."

Amy's bright green eyes reflected her deepest gratitude as she looked at Unlimited again, and the teen said, "I'm glad to have made you this happy. It is my goal to make sure that reality feels the same joy that you two do."

"Well, we're behind you all the way!" Sonic said, giving a thumbs up.

Unlimited smiled and nodded, and finally, the teen said, "I will keep you in my heart too. I won't forget the happiness that you have brought to me by being together."

The two hedgehogs nodded, and Unlimited finished, "I'm going to go and look around this earth one last time. I will see you two in the morning when I depart."

Sonic and Amy both nodded, and the teen lifted into the air and took off to look upon the lands one more time.

The night passed, the Sonic team slept, and Unlimited traversed the world one last time, looking upon the peace that he had fought for. He was glad to have stopped the Toxic evil in this world.

_Now, I will make the rest of reality look the same way._

Finally, in Station Square, the sun rose over the buildings and brightened up the streets and houses. The city began to bustle again, apparently forgetting the acts of bravery that had occurred yesterday.

At Chris's house, the Sonic began to awaken to the sad day that lay before them.

They didn't want to see Unlimited leave, but they knew it was his mission. They understood, so they were willing to accept it and say goodbye.

At around 9 o'clock, the Sonic team went outside, waiting for Unlimited to return from wherever he was around the world.

At that moment, he appeared in the sky above them and descended, his face smiling but his eyes filled with regret for having to leave.

Unlimited landed on the ground and said, "So this is the end of my time here. I want to thank you for making it very happy for me and for all of you."

Tails was the first to walk forward and said, "It was our pleasure. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have made it through that battle yesterday."

Tails offered his hand to Unlimited, who was easily twice the size of the fox, and Unlimited shook his hand.

Then, Rouge walked up and said, "Have fun wherever you go. And think of me when you need a chuckle."

Unlimited smirked as he gently shook her hand too, followed by Knuckles, who simply smirked at Unlimited.

Then, at that moment, just as Amy and Sonic were approaching Unlimited, they heard footsteps from behind Unlimited. They all turned to see Shadow walking up, and Unlimited turned full on to him.

The black hedgehog stopped in front of the teen, looking at him in the eyes as Unlimited did the same.

Shadow then said, "I must thank you for coming here. Now the evil in my body is no longer so complete, and I must wish you luck to destroy evil like that everywhere."

Shadow respectfully raised his hand to Unlimited, and Unlimited took it and shook it, saying, "You will not be the only one Shadow. I will destroy all evil like that which was within you."

Shadow nodded, knowing that Unlimited had an important task set before him. Once Shadow and Unlimited took back their hands, the black hedgehog nodded once to the others and ran, skating away to figure out his new life.

Then, Unlimited turned back to Amy and Sonic, and Amy walked up first. Unlike anyone else, Amy held up both of her arms to Unlimited, and the teen crouched down to Amy's height as she hugged him.

"Thank you so much. If you hadn't come to us, Sonic and I would still be trying to find each other. You've made us so happy," Amy told the teen, who gently hugged the pink hedgehog back.

"That's for sure," Sonic then said from behind Amy, and Amy let go of Unlimited to turn to Sonic. The blue hedgehog stepped forward and extended his hand, and the teen shook Sonic's hand as well, gripping it tightly knowing that he was leaving one of the greatest heroes Unlimited had met thus far.

"Good luck wherever you go. We'll make sure to remember these days that we had with you. It was great, thank you," Sonic told Unlimited sincerely, smiling but sad to see the teen leave.

Unlimited nodded his head and said, "All of you will uphold the good of this realm, and you shall never falter. I wish you happiness."

The Sonic team nodded as Unlimited stood up, giving them one last look with his deep blue eyes, and finally, he began to lift into the air. The Sonic team watched as the teen rose higher and higher into the sky, his black aura slowly reappearing around him.

"Farewell."

And, in one last show of his amazing power, Unlimited blasted up into the sky at incredible speed as his black aura flared around him and began to envelop him. Then, high in the sky, over the world that he had just fought to protect, Unlimited morphed into a mass of black energy and stretched out, warping himself through the fabric of reality out of this world. In one last flash of light, the teen disappeared from the sky, traveling through the folds of the universes.

The Sonic team saw him leave in so spectacular a fashion, and they would always remember the wonder that was Unlimited.

The rest of that day went by in gloom, but they understood Unlimited's decision. They let it pass from their lives, and the night fell upon the world again.

On the roof of Chris's house, Sonic was laying and looking up at the stars, wondering where among them Unlimited was.

Then, he heard from over on the balcony a grunt and someone's feet hitting the ground. He sat up and crawled over to the edge of the balcony to see Amy trying to climb up to the roof.

Sonic softly smiled down at Amy and said, "Need help?"

Amy blushed a little but smiled as well, her glistening green eyes always comforted at the sight of Sonic, and she nodded.

Sonic put out his hand and Amy jumped up and grabbed it, and the blue hedgehog pulled his pink lover up onto the roof into his arms.

Amy giggled lightly as he hugged her, and she returned it to him. After a moment, they laid back down on the roof together and gazed up into the heavens. Sonic softly stroked Amy's head, which was resting on Sonic's chest, and Amy asked, "Do you think he'll be back, Sonic?"

Sonic smiled, and took one of Amy's hands, saying, "As sure as I love you, he'll be back."

Amy giggled again, and she looked into Sonic's face, and the blue hedgehog continued, "I can't believe it. If he didn't come here in the first place, I don't think we would be here right now, together..."

Amy smiled and locked eyes with Sonic, who said, "And I don't know how I could've let you go another day without telling you I love you."

Sonic and Amy sat up, in each other's arms, and the pink hedgehog said, "I love you too, Sonic."

And softly, the two hedgehogs kissed, letting their lips glide over each other for a moment, showing their love in the deepest way they could.

Then, the two parted their lips and hugged each other once again, sitting together and thinking of each other, and of Unlimited, who had brought them to each other in their love.

Far away, beyond the stars, in another region of reality, a familiar dark figure floats among the void of space, looking back towards the universe he had just left, a single tear leaving his eye. He knew the happiness that Sonic and Amy felt would never die, and he was glad to have brought them together to find their love.

Now, the being turned away, smiling for their love, and looked in another direction, and said as if someone were listening, "My creator really loves that couple, Sonic and Amy. He thinks they are perfect for each other. So enjoy the romantic times that my creator wants to tell..."

The being then turned away and stared into space, towards a particularly dark section of reality, and he thought, _But as for me... It's time to put this power to the use it was intended for... Evil... will... fall... And I will be its slayer..._

With the fight between Unlimited and Infinite over, Unlimited has left Sonic and his friends in order to continue the quest he has been set to. His fights continue on, in another universe...

Well, that's it! As Unlimited mentioned, I'm going to be writing a lot of stuff about Sonic and Amy, which, as you might already know, I am OBSESSED with. You'll see quite a few stories about them for awhile, but if you're just a fan of Unlimited, don't worry! He'll be back soon, ready to explore the deepest reaches of reality and his own power. But until then, thank you for reading Unlimited: The Next Universe!


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